[Mageia-dev] Release cycles proposals, and discussion

Wed Jun 15 15:57:58 CEST 2011

On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 10:46:33PM +0200, Michael Scherer wrote:
+> Proposal 1: 
+> 6 months release cycle -> 12 months life cycle
+
+> Proposal 2: 
+> 9 months release cycle -> 18 months life cycle  
+
+> Proposal 3: 
+> 12 months release cycle -> 24 months life cycle
+
+
+Regarding release cycles from a GNOME perspective (so 6 months):
++ 6 months is great for stability; with the various freezes and so on,
+  there is not a lot of development going on, so code doesn't become too
+  unstable
+
++ very predictable for everyone (releases + freezes are always in the
+same period)
+
++ more immediate feedback from users
+
+- developers might get too focussed on the 6 months, and development
+  might slow down after a few years (happened with GNOME 2.x until 3.0
+  was suggested)
+  to avoid it you need something like a 'feature map' (plan beforehand
+  what to do next and when you think the development would be done;
+  don't focus too much on the next version)
+
+- big changes are difficult to do in 6 months; though you can branch and
+  so on, it isn't always possible (interaction between modules and so
+  on)
+  e.g. new GDM or the gnome-vfs -> gvfs switch
+
+- stable release is not supported/looked after for too long
+
+Distribution is of course different from just software, so feel free to
+ignore.
+
+There was discussion in the past to make a release every 6 months, but
+work on it for 9 (there would be a 3 month overlap where developers had
+to work on both branches). E.g. by having a restricted 'Mageia 2' while
+still having an 'anything goes' Cauldron.
+-- 
+Regards,
+Olav
+