"What To Release" vs "How To Release"

[Karl Fogel <kf...@red-bean.com>]

The recent thread about whether and when to release a 1.5.0-rc6, and
what should be included in it if so, has mixed together two unrelated
topics.  The purpose of this mail is to separate those topics, since
one of them is probably more interesting and important than the other.

* Topic 1: "What To Release"

  This is the question of whether to release RC5 (which has soaked the
  full four weeks), or release everything that's now on the 1.5.x
  branch (and if so, whether or not to give that another four full
  weeks of soak).

  When I say "release RC5", I really mean "release RC5 plus any
  trivial fixes and/or changes that don't require voting or
  re-soaking".  I hope this is obvious, and that the short label "RC5"
  isn't taken literally!  Still, releasing RC5 would mean that some
  changes merged into 1.5.x after RC5 was released wouldn't be part of
  1.5.0 -- they'd have to wait for 1.5.1.

  This question is already being addressed in a separate thread.  I'm
  not trying to start a new thread about it here.  I'm just trying to
  describe the "What To Release" topic so we all agree on what it is.

* Topic 2: "How To Release"

  This is a much less interesting, though still necessary, discussion.
  It is about how, technically, to achieve whatever result we decide
  on in Topic 1.  That is, it's mechanisms of release management: do
  we make a branch of the 1.5.0-rc5 tag?  Subtract changes from 1.5.x
  and put them back later?  Branch from the tip of 1.5.x and subtract
  changes from the new branch?  Etc, etc.
  
  There are lots of ways to do it, and I don't care which methodology
  we use.  In fact, I thought one of the reasons we have a release
  manager is precisely so we don't have to have threads on Topic 2 :-).
  Basically, whatever Hyrum wants to do is fine with me.

  Now, there could be things to discuss here.  Some methods of
  managing the release branch might affect all of us -- for example,
  what section in STATUS we put changes in, who merges them and when,
  etc.  We can have that discussion anytime.  I think just letting
  Hyrum dictate how it will go might be the easiest solution, but it
  doesn't really matter, as long as we know what method we're using.

The point is that these two topics are entirely independent: anything
we decide for "What To Release" is achievable; in fact, most outcomes
are achievable in more than one way -- which is why we muddied our
"What To Release" discussions with "How To Release" issues.

Let's please stop mixing these topics.  The important topic here is
"What To Release".  Once we decide that, we can have a much quicker
discussion about "How To Release".

Thanks,
-Karl

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@subversion.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@subversion.tigris.org

Re: "What To Release" vs "How To Release"

[Karl Fogel <kf...@red-bean.com>]

Karl Fogel <kf...@red-bean.com> writes:
> The point is that these two topics are entirely independent: anything
> we decide for "What To Release" is achievable; in fact, most outcomes
> are achievable in more than one way -- which is why we muddied our
> "What To Release" discussions with "How To Release" issues.
>
> Let's please stop mixing these topics.  The important topic here is
> "What To Release".  Once we decide that, we can have a much quicker
> discussion about "How To Release".

I forgot to mention this important corollary:

The fact that any particular change has/hasn't been merged to the 1.5.x
branch has *no bearing* on whether it is included in 1.5.0.  There have
been some statements implying that once something is merged in, that
means we're going to release it in 1.5.0.  I wrote the above mail to
dispel this myth once and for all.

Having a version control system means we get to *choose*.  Yes, changes
that have been merged into the 1.5.x branch, or even just changes listed
in STATUS, are destined to come out in some 1.5.x release someday.  But
for any given change, the question of which specific release it is first
published in is entirely under our control.  Nothing about merging a
change to a branch, or proposing it in a STATUS file, or anything else,
forces us to include it in 1.5.0.  We have a tool sophisticated enough
to give us all the choices we could want, as long as we're willing to
exercise those choices.

-Karl

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@subversion.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@subversion.tigris.org