The installer is not a release blocker...but interest in the installer is decreasing

[Christian Perrier <bubulle@debian.org>]

(from a thread in -devel)

Quoting Henrique de Moraes Holschuh (hmh@debian.org):
> On Sun, 20 Feb 2005, Brian Nelson wrote:
> > > There isn't any evidence I've seen that these arch's actually slow
> > > down the release.
> > 
> > Getting debian-installer working across all architectures was certainly
> > an issue at one time, though that time passed a few months ago.
> 
> Well, if the installer ever holds etch, we can think about it.  Right now,
> the installer is not even semi-close to being the worst problem.

Sure. The only problem with the installer is that we froze in early
October for RC2, didn't move that much since then (no new
features....the few ones added are waiting in the trunk branch)....and
it seems that the interest in it is decreasing among developers with a
"core team" slowly shrinking to a few individuals.

Not a problem per se, but only a small worry at this moment. We
shouldn't have a frozen installer for a too long time....or we take
the risk of losing valuable contributors interest.

More specifically, I'm thinking about the work on a graphical
interface, a rescue package, partman enhancements, new languages
support -several are waiting since September because we decided then
to not add more languages.... We also have an increasing number of
unprocessed install reports (of half-processed) : a usual good sign of
lack of resources.

Don't misunderstand me : I agree completely with the current installer
"semi-freeze". Joey handles this the best way, for sure (I am and I
have always been 100% supportive fo the way D-I development is
handled)

I just want to enhance the concerns I had during last weeks/months.
The installer team needs to move on. For this, we need to first
release RC3 (which is on its way), then be sure that that release is
enough for a sarge release (here, the blocker is obviously the final
choice about the kernel).