I don't think it will work, though if someone is overriding the method it will show an error.

this provides binary compatibility (the parameters, same order) except I'm not sure if private is sufficient, too; and the new method is source-compatible.

Though if we override it wil fail the compilation or am I missing something:

trait Location
trait A{
  def locs(a: String, b: Int, l: Location): Nothing = ???
}

class B extends A{
  override def locs(a : String, b: Int)(implicit l : Location) = ???
}

This will fail, so I assume your change should also fail

i think that it wouldn't fail, or else mina would complain.

I would think so, which is why I am bit confused. It might be a bug in Mima or alternatively the code produced is binary compatible, just not source compatible.

yes, mima checks for binary. well, if there's minor source incompatibility, increasing the minor version, as you suggested, should be enough. wdyt?

I guess the odds of someone overwriting the fail method are pretty low 🤔 We should be fine then