[Mageia-dev] Version freeze: 2012/03/07

Fri Mar 2 21:39:59 CET 2012

What is a version freeze?
+Let's take an example: abiword-2.9.2-5.mga2.src.rpm
+2.9.2 is version
+-5 is release
+Version freeze happens when no more version changes are allowed (
+unless exception ).
+
+On Mageia 2 planning, it will happen on 7th of march. That's in 5
+days, for people that do not look their calendar.
+
+Reasons for a freeze
+-----------------------------
+We start the freeze in order to focus now on fixing pending bugs and
+stabilize general state of distribution in order to prepare the
+release of Mageia 2 on 3rd of may. The version freeze will be followed
+by a release freeze on 7th of april, and a freeze for release. The
+main goal is that bugs are caused by general changes, so to reduce
+bugs count, we should focus on just fixing them. It avoids edge
+effects because of last minute updates.
+
+What it changes in practice
+----------------------------------------
+if a package is a different version from the previous one, youri ( our
+package upload tool ) will block the upload, unless you are in a
+special group ( see end of mail for the list ).  So while non version
+change can be uploaded without problem ( so people can still add
+patches, etc ), version changes should be submitted by autorized
+person.
+
+How to ask for an exception
+-----------------------------------------
+- First, try to build the rpm locally, test it, see if it installs and
+works fine.
+Check that the changes are minimal enough, on Provides and Requires
+tags, on file location, etc
+- Do not commit in the main branch for now ( you can use branch if you want )
+- If unsure, please ask first for a freeze break on mageia-dev, with
+reasons. Please keep in mind that only bugfixes should be accepted.
+- Once the break is accepted, please commit and then ask for submitting
+
+Criteria for accepting updates
+------------------------------------------
+Since we aim for stability, the criteria would be near the ones of
+updates. For example, if this is upgrade to a stable release when the
+rc was here ( like for gnome ), this should be ok. If that fixes an
+important bugfix, or a security issue this should be ok, provided
+there is not much breakage, and that it doesn't require to rebuild
+half of the distribution.
+
+Please explain clearly if there is an important bug, give url, etc.
+
+While we should have discussed this before a little bit more ( as said
+in meeting ), we will take the following list for now, with people who
+should be both avliable and experienced enough.
+
+List of authorized people to submit new version
+- misc
+- ennael
+- tmb
+- anssi
+- boklm
+
+http://meetbot.mageia.org/mageia-dev/2012/mageia-dev.2012-02-15-20.13.log.html#l-75
+
+Cheers
+
+ennael & misc
+