This metadata has been around for years, and Rust releases new versions every six weeks. Whether or not it's technically a "breaking change" or not, it's not un

This metadata has been around for years, and Rust releases new versions every six weeks. Whether or not it's technically a "breaking change" or not, it's not unreasonable to spend a likely time to figure out if something will break for someone if they remove it; it's only another month and a half at most before the next chance to stabilize it comes. At a higher level, as much as it's easier to pretend that "breaking" or "non-breaking" changes are a binary, the terms are only useful in how they describe the murkier reality of how people actually use something. The point of having those distinctions is in how they communicate things to users; developers are promising not to break certain things so that users can rely on them to remain working. That doesn't mean that other changes won't have any impact to users though, and there's nothing wrong with developers taking that into account. As an analogy, imagine if I promise to mow your lawn every week, and then I mow your neighbor's lawn as well without making them the same promise. I notice that my old mower takes a long time to finish your lawn, and I realize that a newer electric mower with a higher power usage would help me do it faster. I need to make sure that higher power usage is safe for me to use on your property, but I'm not breaking my promise to you if I delay my purchase to check with your neighbor about whether it would be safe for theirs as well and take that into account in my decision. That doesn't mean I'm committing to only buying it if it's safe for their lawn, but it's information that still has some value for me to know in advance, and if it means that your lawn will continue to get cut with the old mower while I figure that out, it doesn't mean that I'm somehow elevating the concern of their lawn to the same level as yours. You might not choose to care about the neighbors lawn in my position, but I don't think it's particularly "wild" that some people might think it's worthwhile to take it into consideration.