[wchilders-nvidia]

This PR changes procedures so that contributors stop editing Changes files directly. Each change adds a pending_changes/*.chng.txt entry instead, and a nightly job moves the entries into the Changes file with the date added. This removes the merge conflicts at the top of src/Changes (and makes it easier to work in forks which now just pull the updated Changes entry without conflict against their work).

Suggested order

1. dev_tools/pylibs/edgchanges/ is the entry format: the parser, its errors, tag wrapping and the date. Everything else builds on it.
2. dev_tools/bin/edg-check-file-changes adds rules for .chng.txt files: a format_errors key, a spell check against the target Changes file plus //allowed_words:, trailing whitespace not counted toward the line limit, and get-comments required only for code files.
3. dev_tools/bin/edg-collect-changes takes a Changes file and its pending_changes/ directory. insert_entries is the part to read closely: how it finds the newest version line, opens a new section when that version is already released, and replaces No changes..
4. .git-hooks/pre-push.py rejects an entry with any problem outright, with no "Okay?" prompt, so a push can't fail CI later. It also prints the //allowed_words: hint.
5. .github/workflows/: changes-fragments.yml is the PR check and collect-changes.yml is the nightly job. paths-ignore was added to three heavy workflows so the bot's changelog-only commits don't trigger them.
6. The rest: docs (skills, AGENTS.md, CONTRIBUTING.md), the pending_changes/.gitignore placeholders, a win-bin wrapper, typecheck registration, and the tests in dev_tools/tests/.

Decisions worth a second look

• Entries only accept GH #N tags. EDGcpfe/N and an empty [] are rejected.
• Words the target Changes file already uses pass the spell check. Other words need //allowed_words:.
• The nightly job skips malformed entries but still collects the good ones, then marks the run as failed.
• When the newest version is already released, the new section takes its version from --version-from src/Changes.
• The CHANGES_DIRS list appears in both workflows and has to be kept the same by hand.
• The schedule uses the cron timezone: key, which is new. If GitHub rejects it, the fallback is 0 4,5 * * * in UTC, plus a step that only continues when it's 00:00 in Eastern time.

What's verified and what isn't

• Verified:
  • 27 unit tests pass on Python 3.13 and 3.6. In the 3.6 container, the tests that need aspell are skipped.
  • mypy strict passes on the new code.
  • --check and collect runs worked on a scratch tree, including in the dev-env container.
• Not yet run:
  • Neither workflow has run on GitHub.

To try it locally: add an entry under src/pending_changes/, then run edg-exec -- edg-collect-changes --check src/Changes src/pending_changes. Use --dry-run instead of --check to preview where the entry would go.

[edgcpp-bot]

AcknowlEDG review results updated for 1966aabfe02f:

• Bench - C (new)
• Bench - C++ (new)

CI success.

[nv-cmeerw]

Can we get rid of the .chng? It's already in a pending_changes directory.