Release management stuff [Was: Suggestion for new repository of software]

[Jeff Waugh]

On Wed, 2004-11-10 at 11:34 +0000, David Marsh wrote:
> I suspect a lot of people are grumbling mainly because we've just had a
> major release of Firefox [1] and we're all going to have to wait 5 months
> for it to trickle down in the next Ubuntu release.. ( :-( )

Always going to happen. :-)

> To be honest, I'll be (genuinely) very impressed if Ubuntu does manage
> to achieve precise 6-monthly releases just because software development
> never goes to plan(!) and there's always bound to be something that takes
> some extra days to sort out or revert..

Never to plan? Look at GNOME's ability to deliver six-month, time-based
releases since 2.0... and that's the model we're based on. :-)

> Hence I'm wondering, would it possibly be an idea to agree to delay a
> formal release by a period of absolutely not longer than 1 month *if*
> (and only if) a known "core" application was about to have a major upgrade 

Very unlikely, unless a GNOME release was delayed for a reason that
directly affected Ubuntu - but this is only because we sync with GNOME's
release schedule, and it's an explicit goal. In some cases, we may have
other goals that affect this, but they'd be known at the beginning of
the release process. Remember that we freeze upstream versions at around
the three month mark at the moment.

There are always new releases around the corner, so if we wait around
for new versions of major components, we'll always be waiting... :-)

> Thing is, in the open-source world, 6 months *is* an eternity ;-)
> 
> If my above suggestion made you chortle (although it was meant
> genuinely, but perhaps it may be unworkable), consider what I was going
> to suggest instead: ( ;-) )
> 
> 4-monthly release cycles to get the optimum balance between having 
> fairly minimal delays for the cutting (not bleeding) edge software and
> having a workable development cycle.

4 is way too fast, not only for the developers, but for users too. Two
(non-forced!) upgrades a year is pretty reasonable, but three is pushing
it - particularly when you're talking about new versions, not just
fixes. Plus, Ubuntu is synced with the GNOME release process.

- Jeff

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