Re: When a release is "ready." (was Re: Re: Debian has turned unusable.)
On Mon, Apr 12, 2004 at 08:47:59PM -0400, Chris Metzler wrote:
> So I would guess that there's some set of target properties that
> testing should have before it gets frozen that gets decided upon,
> e.g. "the next release must include a 2.4 kernel by default with a
> 2.6 kernel optional, the new installer, XF86 v4.3, exim4, GNOME 2.2
> or higher, etc." Whatever else is true about testing, and even if
> the release-critical bug count is zero, the release won't be made
> until these changes in the distro have been effected, since otherwise
> it isn't different enough or interesting enough to put out there as a
> new stable release. And I wonder how those goals are chosen, and
> where one goes to find out what they are. Probably an archive
> search of debian-devel would do it; but a better-publicized source
> (e.g. a page on the Debian website) might be a good idea. If the
> user community had a clear idea what the major issues for each new
> release are, they'd know the particular packages/services to
> concentrate on playing with and filing good bug reports about and
> so on -- thus perhaps helping to speed up the release.
>
> I know that a major focus of this release is the new installer, and
> that right now that's the main thing people should focus on to help
> the release get out. But earlier, I dunno what else I should have
> been installing and hammering on to help the release along. I could
> probably find it in debian-devel's archives; but maybe a page off
> the Debian front page ("Minimal Goals for the Next Release") would
> be a good idea.
Personally I'd rather see much more time-based releases once we've got a
reliably-updated installer post-sarge, but hey ...
The real reason that there's little in the way of information here is
that it could be reduced to a trivial page looking a bit like this:
_____ _ _ _
| ___(_)_ __ (_)___| |__
| |_ | | '_ \| / __| '_ \
| _| | | | | | \__ \ | | |
|_| |_|_| |_|_|___/_| |_|
_____ _
|_ _| |__ ___
| | | '_ \ / _ \
| | | | | | __/
|_| |_| |_|\___|
___ _ _ _ _
|_ _|_ __ ___| |_ __ _| | | ___ _ __| |
| || '_ \/ __| __/ _` | | |/ _ \ '__| |
| || | | \__ \ || (_| | | | __/ | |_|
|___|_| |_|___/\__\__,_|_|_|\___|_| (_)
Everything else is so far behind that goal that it isn't funny. It's
been in every release update posted to debian-devel-announce for the
last couple of years. There are minor bits and pieces, sure, but in
reality as soon as the new installer's really and truly ready for prime
time (which, finally, is a goal that's in sight) we'll be going straight
into freeze mode.
We (the release management team) have begun putting together better ways
to disseminate release targets, but I don't expect them to be decent
until we've got sarge out of the way.
--
Colin Watson [cjwatson@flatline.org.uk]
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