Re: XFree86-3.3.3 is really not in slink?
On Tue, 1 Dec 1998, Tyson Dowd wrote:
> On 30-Nov-1998, Remco Blaakmeer <remco-blaakmeer@quicknet.nl> wrote:
> >
> > And besides, how much does Debian care about the CD people, anyway? Are
> > they so important that they could tell Debian not to release 2.1.x
> > versions and that their orders would simply be followed?
>
> More likely they would just stop selling Debian, and encourage their
> customers to use RedHat, SUSE, Slackware, Caldera or any other
> distribution that isn't a lot of trouble to sell.
Come to think of it, yes that would be a problem.
> I think it's a dumb idea to restrict Debian to those lucky people who
> have the sort of net connection that allow you to download it.
>
> I can tell you from experience that sales of Debian 2.0 started
> dropping off as soon as Debian 2.1 was announced as frozen on slashdot.
> Announcing a product months before it is released tends to do that.
> (It also gives Debian a reputation for vapourware).
> If everyone knows not to bother with 2.1 because 2.1.1 is just around
> the corner, well that will kill sales too.
Yes, I can see this as a problem for CD vendors. But what would you do
about it? Code freezes are announced to the general public (why? I don't
know, but also I don't know why not). At the time of the code freeze a
fixed release date can't and shouldn't be set, because any number of
serious problems with the software could lead to the release being
postponed to some later date. And not releasing on a previously fixed date
will lead to this reputation of vapourware even sooner, IMHO.
What should be done about this, if anything? Shorter freeze periods would
be difficult. Not announcing code freezes to the general public would
also not be a very good solution. What else is possible?
> A *much* better solution is to just allow CD vendors to put 3.3.3 on
> their CDs in an updates directory, so those people who need it can
> install it (and deal with any bugs that are in it).
> That way the CD vendors are happy, the release manager is happy,
> and the end users are happy.
Yes, this is a good idea. I think there would be enough space for this on
the contrib CD. There could be a stable-updates directory on the ftp
servers and this directory could be put onto the contrib CD, which would
make many people happy.
Remco
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