Re: Debian decides to adopt time-based release freezes
Le Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 03:08:02AM +0200, Meike Reichle a écrit :
>
> the Debian project commits to provide the possibility to
> skip the upcoming release and do a skip-upgrade straight from Debian
> GNU/Linux 5.0 ("Lenny") to Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (not yet codenamed).
Dear release team,
I would like to add my voice to the concerns about freezing in five monthes and
supporting two releases at the same time.
I first read the press release with interest, because I really appreciated in
the Lenny development cycle to have a serie of step-by-step soft deadlines for
the freeze process. But then I noticed that:
- The time you allow us for Squeeze development is already half passed.
- You uniterally decided to increase our work load by requiring us
to support upgrade from Lenny in 2012.
Moreover, I read from the rumor that the above decision is motivated by some
strategic considerations about synergies with Ubuntu, that are not mentionned
in the press release, nor confirmed by you. I will not feel like staying in
Debian if it becomes a place of taboos where we are expected to read between
the lines and understand the true meaning of what "larger organisations" mean
in our communications. Let me make clear that there no irony intended: I just
never read about plans to synchronise our efforts with Ubuntu LTS, and there is
simply too much of political correctness in your press release to make it
informational for people who do not have access to the gossips.
In addition, it is clear from the messages posted to that thread that some key
teams were not consulted for the acceleration of the release schedule of
Squeeze. I am starting to wonder if you are making our project in danger.
I urge you to provide us some strong arguments about the benefits of:
- Unexpectedly shortenning the release cycle,
- Supporting upgrading from Lenny in 2012.
It has been proposed in the past to make minor stable releases, and
Etch-and-a-half looked like a first step in that direction. Freezing in
December looks like another step, especially with the support of upgrades
accross two releases. I am sure that there is something interesting to build in
that direction, but there is much ambiguity in your decision, as the 2010
release is expected to be more formal than a ‘and-a-half’ release. Yesterday,
Steffen posted some thoughts about new ways to release by tagging, and before
him it was already proposed to freeze only the core of Debian, to make
backports officials, to have a “constantly usable testing”, etc. I would be
very intersted to read your comments on this. Are we going that way, or are we
in contrary committing ourselves to make ’monster releases’ every second year.
(And let other distros innovate on the subject).
Please CC me in case of reply, I am not subscribed to -project.
Have a nice day,
--
Charles Plessy
Debian Med packaging team,
http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-med
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan
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