Idea for release...

["Robert S. Thau" <rs...@ai.mit.edu>]

A thought:  it seems inevitable that the first release of the new
software base won't be as mature as the current public release (0.6.5)
--- we really need a public beta to find things like the bug recently
reported to Rob H., which we'll never find on our own.

At the same time, having our only public release be somewhat immature
may make some people uncomfortable.  (Even I think it's less than
ideal).  

So, an idea --- instead of replacing the current project page with
Randy's new one immediately, put a *pointer* to it on the *current*
home page, labeling it "beta release of new code base", or something
like that; also, put caveats on the new page on status, and say that
we anticipate further 0.8.x releases for bugfixes only, culminating in
something we feel comfortable advertising (while beginning a new 0.9.x
series of development releases culminating in a 1.0).

I'm prepared to do this, and send an announcement, tomorrow if no one
seriously objects (IMHO, it's a much better idea than having anything
0.8.attainable-soon as our only current release).

rst

Re: Idea for release...

[Brian Behlendorf <br...@organic.com>]

On Sat, 5 Aug 1995, Robert S. Thau wrote:
> So, an idea --- instead of replacing the current project page with
> Randy's new one immediately, put a *pointer* to it on the *current*
> home page, labeling it "beta release of new code base", or something
> like that; also, put caveats on the new page on status, and say that
> we anticipate further 0.8.x releases for bugfixes only, culminating in
> something we feel comfortable advertising (while beginning a new 0.9.x
> series of development releases culminating in a 1.0).

In the interests of driving this boat into its harbor, I moved 
0.8.8 (installed on both organic and hyperreal, 0.8.4 on links.net) and made 
changes to the live pages, taking into account the discussion about the 
pages earlier this week.  I haven't had time to do complete 
documentation, but the CHANGES file is HTML'ized and the API spec online 
as well.  I also economized the layout of the front page.  

> I'm prepared to do this, and send an announcement, tomorrow if no one
> seriously objects (IMHO, it's a much better idea than having anything
> 0.8.attainable-soon as our only current release).

I think we're ready to make the announcement, barring any objection from 
people who think we need more time to work on the documentation pages on 
the web site.  I nominate Rob Thau to make the announcements to the 
mailing lists and Rob Hartill to post to USENET.

	Brian

--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--
brian@organic.com  brian@hyperreal.com  http://www.[hyperreal,organic].com/