Explain why we do not update the local layout

We do not update the local layout of our .lyx files because users
would then not be able to export to older formats. For example, if a
2.2.0 user exported a template to 2.1.x format and tried to open the
file in LyX 2.1.x, there would be an error because the file would
contain a local layout whose format is too new. The root reason for
this is that we do not convert layouts to older layout formats.

diff --git a/lib/doc/Development.lyx b/lib/doc/Development.lyx
index 67bebb49d6dd4e597b289224b6813fbd33f857e0..ce2d8c466f640408a4208fb5eb68e59acc0a03f7 100644 (file)
--- a/lib/doc/Development.lyx
+++ b/lib/doc/Development.lyx
@@ -649,6 +649,25 @@ python development/tools/updatelayouts.py
 .
 \end_layout
 
+\begin_layout Standard
+Note that we do not update the local layout of our 
+\begin_inset Flex Code
+status collapsed
+
+\begin_layout Plain Layout
+.lyx
+\end_layout
+
+\end_inset
+
+ files because users would then not be able to export to older formats.
+ For example, if a 2.2.0 user exported a template to 2.1.x format and tried
+ to open the file in LyX 2.1.x, there would be an error because the file would
+ contain a local layout whose format is too new.
+ The root reason for this is that we do support converting layouts to older
+ layout formats, as we do for the .lyx file format.
+\end_layout
+
 \begin_layout Subsection
 Updating the file format number of bind/ui files
 \end_layout