[Mageia-dev] measuring our resources for release support

Sat Jul 23 11:51:34 CEST 2011

On Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:44:03 -0400
+andre999 <andr55 at laposte.net> wrote:
+
+> Hello everyone,
+> 
+> At the last packager's meeting I've been given the task of
+> gathering ideas of how to measure our resources for supporting
+> releases. Part of this is to see if we have (or will likely have)
+> the resources for a LTS (long-term support) release.
+> 
+> These resources will involve QA, testing, packaging updates, etc.
+> 
+> So we're inviting input - there are probably factors overlooked,
+> so don't hesitate with your suggestions.
+> 
+> Please post to this thread, so we have all the suggestions in one
+> place.
+> 
+> Regards :)
+
+Before deciding whether we can support a LTS release, we need to
+look at what users will expect as 'support' for any non-LTS release.
+
+This is the support that I, as a mere user, would expect:
+
+(a) security & bugfix updates
+(b) supported backports of popular applications (Firefox,
+LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Gimp etc.)
+(c) user support - experienced Mageia users available on mailing
+lists/forums/IRC giving help and advice to users who have problems.
+
+And, as many users will not be willing and/or able to upgrade to
+latest stable Mageia immediately when it is released, I would
+expect all of that support to continue until next-but-one release -
+so, support for Mageia 1 until the release of Mageia 3, support for
+Mageia 2 until release of Mageia 4 etc.
+
+With our 9-month release cycle, that means that all releases would
+be supported for 18 months. Is there any need for LTS on top of
+that? People running servers might think that 18 months is not long
+enough, but Mageia is not primarily aimed as a server distro and 18
+months should be plenty for desktop users.
+
+Bear in mind that many of our brave volunteers will be supporting 3
+versions of Mageia - current and immediate previous stable, plus
+cauldron -  so adding a 4th LTS version might put too much strain on
+their hardware or on their family life!
+
+-- 
+Margot
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
+**Otford Ducks Computers**
+We teach, you learn...
+...and, if you don't do your homework, we set the cat on you!
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+