On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 8:13 PM, Emmanuel Lecharny <elecha...@gmail.com>wrote:
> On 1/5/11 6:49 PM, Alex Karasulu wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> Let's start off with basics by discussing what our contracts are WRT >> API's, >> and releases with our users. We can throw out the past focusing on the >> future to save time since 2.0 will effectively be a new era. >> >> This 2.0 release I'm gathering is the first stable, serious, enterprise >> ready major release of ApacheDS. 1.0 was kind of a toy considering all >> it's >> faults and shortcomings so the two situations are not completely the same. >> >> We have to select a release scheme. Based on the scheme we select, we have >> to adhere to the rules of that scheme. This is like picking what our >> contract with users of the server will be for release compatibility. >> >> So when considering compatibility we have to consider several things >> besides >> just APIs and SPIs: >> >> o Database Format >> o Schema >> o Replication Mechanism >> o Configuration >> o API Compatibility >> o Plugins - We have pseudo plugins like Partitions, Interceptors and >> Handlers that users can alter which involve SPIs. >> > > I would get the Database Format and Configuration out of the equation. It's > up to us to provide tools to migrate from one format to the other. Don't get > me wrong : when I say that configuration is out of the equation, I mean that > the configuration can change, not its format (ie switching from XML to DIT > is possible between to major releases, not between two minor releases). > > Will this be transparent to the user? Meaning can he just upgrade the software and the migration will occur without any change in their workflow, or anything noticeable in performance, wait time on startup? More specifically: (1) Does the user have to run a tool to migrate from one version to the next ? (2) If a user has 100 Million entries and there's a migration operation running with this take say a few hours to start up the server? > So based the scheme we select we have to define policies for these >> interfaces. I am calling anything that is exposed to the users as >> interfaces >> like DB format for example. We have the following choices for schemes: >> >> 1. Milestone Scheme (Eclipse) >> 2. Traditional major.minor.micro Scheme >> 3. maj.min.mic with Odd Numbered Versions for Development Releases (Old >> Linux Kernel) >> 4. Modern Linux Versioning Scheme >> >> Se let's start off talking about which scheme we like best and why along >> with pros and cons taking into account realistically how we work. >> > Eclipse uses Milestone to express the fact that they are targeting a major > release, and each milestone is one step toward this major release. A > milestone can include new features, or API refactoring. > OK so don't separate development features into different branches. I think this is better as well since this stable verses dev branch thing did not work so well for us in the past. People are very familiar with this model as well so there's less to explain. Plus eventually when we introduce OSGi into the picture this will serve very handy as Jesse pointed out. > > Milestone are not exclusive to any other version scheme. > > There are also some exotic schemes out there like > maj.min.mic-alpha/beta/NNN : not anymore frequently use those days. IMO, > they are more like milestones > > +1 > It's mainly a question of personal preference here, the idea is to avoid > bikeshed painting debates. > > +1 > My preference goes to : > - maj.min.mic where mic are for bug fixes, min are for features additions > (and potentially minor API changes) and maj are for large refactoring. > This is the case for this scheme for the components of the project. > - using Milestone works well when combined with this scheme, for pre-major. > This is the case for this scheme for the public product version which is a group of components, bundles. > - when all the features have been added, RC can be issued > > If we do this can we just follow what Eclipse does exactly instead of adding our own customization. It's just nice to reference their way and not have to document anything extra. If this RC thing is part of their scheme then lets use it. > So to summarize : > > 1.0.0 -> 1.0.1 -> 1.0.2... > > at any point, we can branch, if some new feature is added or if some minor > API refactoring is absolutely needed : > 1.1.0 -> 1.1.1 -> 1.1.2 ... > > When preparing a 2.0.0 : > 2.0-M1 -> 2.0-M2 -> ... 2.0-M5 > > When feature completion and API stabilization is reached : > 2.0-M5 -> 2.0-RC1 -> 2.0-RC2 ... > > When RC have been stabilized and tested, then we can release a major : > 2.0-RC5 -> 2.0.0 > > and back to the beginning. > > Hmmm OK I see now the switch from M* to RC* : it's the barrier for stopping new features and API changes. OK I like it but is this what these guys do in eclipse? -- Alex Karasulu My Blog :: http://www.jroller.com/akarasulu/ Apache Directory Server :: http://directory.apache.org Apache MINA :: http://mina.apache.org To set up a meeting with me: http://tungle.me/AlexKarasulu
