On 12/3/13, 12:21 PM, tn wrote:> In general this sounds great. However:
>
> On Tuesday, 3 December 2013 at 14:26:07 UTC, Andrew Edwards wrote:
>> Betas will be released four weeks after an official release.
>
> Does this mean that a new release branch will be created at that point?
> I think it makes sense.
Yes.
>> Once a release candidate is published, no new features will be added.
>
> Does this imply that new features are still added in beta phase? That
> does not fit well with creating the branch in the beginning of the beta
> phase.
>
> My opinion:
>
> I don't think new features should be added in beta phase. Instead it
> should be for bug fixing. When no known blocker bugs are left, a release
> candidate phase should be started. Relase candidate should be, as the
> name implies, a candidate for release. Thus, if no new critical bugs are
> found, then the release can be made in principle just by bumping the
> version number.
You make a good point. I actually thought about that after I posted but
was on my way to work so could not re-post at the time. The beta release
will start a new branch and will basically follow the steps you
describe. No new features after a beta is released.
> More important than defining when the actual releases are made, is to
> define when branching is done. It is easy to slip release date because
> of new bugs and that can then delay the next release (depending on how
> you implement the procedure). Instead, a new release branch should be
> branched from the master branch exactly every 8 weeks. That should be
> easy, since there are no such stability requirements as for actual
> releases. Whether the following stabilisation phase (betas + release
> candidates) lasts exactly 3 or 4 or 5 weeks is not that important as
> long as the quality of the release will be acceptable. The phase should
> last long enough that all blocker bugs are fixed. In this model the time
> between actual releases can vary a bit, but on average it will be
> exactly 8 weeks.
Make sense. I will take this into consideration.
