On Fri, 2003-03-14 at 16:13, Brent Fox wrote: > On Wed, 2003-03-12 at 22:02, Philip Wyett wrote: > > On Wed, 2003-03-12 at 20:58, Brent Fox wrote: > > > On Wed, 2003-03-12 at 14:41, Jesse Keating wrote: > > > > On Wednesday 12 March 2003 11:25, Brent Fox wrote: > > > > > The Enterprise line and the changes to the support level of the consumer > > > > > line will allow the consumer line to move faster than in the past. This > > > > > will help us address one of the most common criticisms of Red Hat Linux > > > > > over the years, which is that we aren't as cutting edge as some of the > > > > > other distros. > > > > > > > > Unfortionatly, a lot of us loved Red Hat because they weren't so bleeding > > > > edge, and we didn't have near as many problems w/ Red Hat's GPL releases as > > > > we did with various other distributor's GPL releases. I really hope that the > > > > level of QA that went into GPL releases in the past will not drop. > > > > > > We won't drop the level of QA. If we neglect the QA on the consumer > > > line, it will only make the job of stabilizing the next Enterprise > > > release that much harder. QA works best when it's a part of the process > > > of developing software as opposed to something you do just before you're > > > ready to ship. > > > > > > > I can live with the enterprise versions, but there's a really bad > > perception building here through Red Hat PR and comment that users of > > the consumer Red Hat Linux sole purpose is as a proving ground for the > > enterprise range and the corporates. :/ > > Red Hat Linux has always been a proving ground. Previously, each > version was a proving ground for the next version. That's still true, > but now it's also a proving ground for the Enterprise line. >
Thanks for the clarification. > Think of it like CVS. Our build system is like CVS head, where all the > new code is checked in and compiled. Every six months, we basically > take a snapshot of the latest tree and start stabilizing it internally. > Then we do one or more public betas. After we feel it's ready for > public consumption, we make a release of Red Hat Linux. Our releases > have worked this way for years and this has not changed. I did say that > the consumer line will move faster now, but that doesn't mean that we're > going to ship alpha-quality code. > I never thought for a second that with any increase in release pace to newer OSS versions, that Red Hat would sacrifice stability to be more bleeding edge in the consumer version. > What has changed is that now every 12-18 months, we take a snapshot that > will become an Enterprise release. It will have a longer beta cycle so > that our partners (Oracle, Veritas, etc.) can run their stress tests and > such. In the past, vendors like Oracle didn't even have time to run > their stress tests and give us feedback because the beta cycle for Red > Hat Linux is usually only about three months long. This additional > testing will allow us and our partners to support the product for a much > longer period of time than the consumer line. > All this talk of release cycles does bring one thing to the fore though. Do Red Hat see anytime soon where it will move away from a 6 monthly release schedule for the consumer version, to say 12 months and offer slightly longer support on it? Just from a purely personal perspective, I would like to see this. > So that's a pretty high-level view of our process, but I hope it > explains that we haven't fundamentally changed how we do things. > Yes it does explain things and I appreciate you taking the time todo so. Regards Phil -- ICQ: 135463069 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Public key: http://www.philipwyett.dsl.pipex.com/gpg/public_key.txt --
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