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Posted to dev@ofbiz.apache.org by Jacopo Cappellato <ja...@hotwaxmedia.com> on 2012/02/21 10:18:29 UTC

Proposal about a time based release plan

Hi all,

I would like to share some ideas I have to make our release plan more clearer, public and well defined.

This plan doesn't require additional work from the community (apart from the due diligence when we will call for votes) because I will take care about preparing release candidate files, sign them and call for votes; then publish them if the vote is successful.
This is basically what we did in the last 2 years with the only (big) difference that the release schedule will be decided and announced in advance on fixed dates.
For example, we could decide that during the year 2012 (the same scheme could be used for 2013 etc...) we will issue a release from each branch every 4 months like this:

* release 11.04 around 2012-04-15
* release 11.04.01 around 2012-08-15
* release 11.04.02 around 2012-12-15

* release 10.04.01 around 2012-03-15
* release 10.04.02 around 2012-07-15
* release 10.04.03 around 2012-11-15

* release 09.04.02 around 2012-02-15
* release 09.04.03 around 2012-06-15
* release 09.04.04 around 2012-10-15

Or we could decide on a less aggressive schedule and release each branch every 6 months etc...

And we could also vote in advance for the time a release branch will be closed: for example we could vote that the community will not release and apply patches to the release branch 09.04 after the release 09.04.04 (this is just an example as I would like to propose to close the 09.04 branch earlier than this). New patches/contributions (always welcome) for that branch (after it is closed) will not be applied to the branch and will stay in Jira for interested parties (unless the community will decide to reopen it).

In this way users will know in advance when a branch will be deprecated, how many bug fix releases will be issued and based on this information could prepare in time for the upgrades (or switch between major releases).

Of course there will be exceptions: maybe we will have to release out of schedule to fix some major security issues or we could skip a release if no changes since the previous one were committed etc...

When the plan is in place we could then prepare a nice roadmap diagram to be published in our Download page. The roadmap will not be feature based and for this reason it should be doable with the current structure and resources we have in the community: I know it would be also nice to plan and work together on a features set, but this will definitely require more coordination, agreement and effort... we can (and should) always try to do that also but this is another topic (for another thread).
In the meantime, with this time based release plan we will have something real to play with.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Jacopo

Re: Proposal about a time based release plan

Posted by Pierre Smits <pi...@gmail.com>.
Hi All,

I am all for a roadmap. This will help us in communications with existing
and potential customers. It will also help us with planning of internal
activities related to the OFBiz product.

+1

Pierre Smits

2012/2/21 Jacopo Cappellato <ja...@hotwaxmedia.com>

> Hi all,
>
> I would like to share some ideas I have to make our release plan more
> clearer, public and well defined.
>
> This plan doesn't require additional work from the community (apart from
> the due diligence when we will call for votes) because I will take care
> about preparing release candidate files, sign them and call for votes; then
> publish them if the vote is successful.
> This is basically what we did in the last 2 years with the only (big)
> difference that the release schedule will be decided and announced in
> advance on fixed dates.
> For example, we could decide that during the year 2012 (the same scheme
> could be used for 2013 etc...) we will issue a release from each branch
> every 4 months like this:
>
> * release 11.04 around 2012-04-15
> * release 11.04.01 around 2012-08-15
> * release 11.04.02 around 2012-12-15
>
> * release 10.04.01 around 2012-03-15
> * release 10.04.02 around 2012-07-15
> * release 10.04.03 around 2012-11-15
>
> * release 09.04.02 around 2012-02-15
> * release 09.04.03 around 2012-06-15
> * release 09.04.04 around 2012-10-15
>
> Or we could decide on a less aggressive schedule and release each branch
> every 6 months etc...
>
> And we could also vote in advance for the time a release branch will be
> closed: for example we could vote that the community will not release and
> apply patches to the release branch 09.04 after the release 09.04.04 (this
> is just an example as I would like to propose to close the 09.04 branch
> earlier than this). New patches/contributions (always welcome) for that
> branch (after it is closed) will not be applied to the branch and will stay
> in Jira for interested parties (unless the community will decide to reopen
> it).
>
> In this way users will know in advance when a branch will be deprecated,
> how many bug fix releases will be issued and based on this information
> could prepare in time for the upgrades (or switch between major releases).
>
> Of course there will be exceptions: maybe we will have to release out of
> schedule to fix some major security issues or we could skip a release if no
> changes since the previous one were committed etc...
>
> When the plan is in place we could then prepare a nice roadmap diagram to
> be published in our Download page. The roadmap will not be feature based
> and for this reason it should be doable with the current structure and
> resources we have in the community: I know it would be also nice to plan
> and work together on a features set, but this will definitely require more
> coordination, agreement and effort... we can (and should) always try to do
> that also but this is another topic (for another thread).
> In the meantime, with this time based release plan we will have something
> real to play with.
>
> Please let me know what you think.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jacopo
>

Re: Proposal about a time based release plan

Posted by Jacques Le Roux <ja...@les7arts.com>.
Hi Jacopo,

Inline...

From: "Jacopo Cappellato" <ja...@hotwaxmedia.com>
> Hi all,
>
> I would like to share some ideas I have to make our release plan more clearer, public and well defined.
>
> This plan doesn't require additional work from the community (apart from the due diligence when we will call for votes) because I
> will take care about preparing release candidate files, sign them and call for votes; then publish them if the vote is successful.
> This is basically what we did in the last 2 years with the only (big) difference that the release schedule will be decided and
> announced in advance on fixed dates.
> For example, we could decide that during the year 2012 (the same scheme could be used for 2013 etc...) we will issue a release
> from each branch every 4 months like this:
>
> * release 11.04 around 2012-04-15
> * release 11.04.01 around 2012-08-15
> * release 11.04.02 around 2012-12-15
>
> * release 10.04.01 around 2012-03-15
> * release 10.04.02 around 2012-07-15
> * release 10.04.03 around 2012-11-15
>
> * release 09.04.02 around 2012-02-15
> * release 09.04.03 around 2012-06-15
> * release 09.04.04 around 2012-10-15
>
> Or we could decide on a less aggressive schedule and release each branch every 6 months etc...

6 months seems enough to me

> And we could also vote in advance for the time a release branch will be closed: for example we could vote that the community will
> not release and apply patches to the release branch 09.04 after the release 09.04.04 (this is just an example as I would like to
> propose to close the 09.04 branch earlier than this). New patches/contributions (always welcome) for that branch (after it is
> closed) will not be applied to the branch and will stay in Jira for interested parties (unless the community will decide to reopen
> it).
>
> In this way users will know in advance when a branch will be deprecated, how many bug fix releases will be issued and based on
> this information could prepare in time for the upgrades (or switch between major releases).
>
> Of course there will be exceptions: maybe we will have to release out of schedule to fix some major security issues or we could
> skip a release if no changes since the previous one were committed etc...

+1

> When the plan is in place we could then prepare a nice roadmap diagram to be published in our Download page. The roadmap will not
> be feature based and for this reason it should be doable with the current structure and resources we have in the community: I know
> it would be also nice to plan and work together on a features set, but this will definitely require more coordination, agreement
> and effort... we can (and should) always try to do that also but this is another topic (for another thread).
> In the meantime, with this time based release plan we will have something real to play with.


I think these are neat ideas to start, thanks Jacopo

Jacques

> Please let me know what you think.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jacopo
>

Re: Proposal about a time based release plan

Posted by Erwan de FERRIERES <er...@nereide.fr>.
Le 21/02/2012 10:18, Jacopo Cappellato a écrit :
> Hi all,
>
> I would like to share some ideas I have to make our release plan more clearer, public and well defined.
>
> This plan doesn't require additional work from the community (apart from the due diligence when we will call for votes) because I will take care about preparing release candidate files, sign them and call for votes; then publish them if the vote is successful.
> This is basically what we did in the last 2 years with the only (big) difference that the release schedule will be decided and announced in advance on fixed dates.
> For example, we could decide that during the year 2012 (the same scheme could be used for 2013 etc...) we will issue a release from each branch every 4 months like this:
>
> * release 11.04 around 2012-04-15
> * release 11.04.01 around 2012-08-15
> * release 11.04.02 around 2012-12-15
>
> * release 10.04.01 around 2012-03-15
> * release 10.04.02 around 2012-07-15
> * release 10.04.03 around 2012-11-15
>
> * release 09.04.02 around 2012-02-15
> * release 09.04.03 around 2012-06-15
> * release 09.04.04 around 2012-10-15
>

sounds good to me.

Regards,

-- 
Erwan de FERRIERES
www.nereide.biz

Re: Proposal about a time based release plan

Posted by ki...@objectedge.com.
I like the idea. Go for it!!

Regards,
Kiran Gawde

Senior Software Architect
Object Edge Inc
(925) 943 5558 x108

"There are two kind of people: Those who do the work and those who take 
the credit. Try to be in the first group because there is less competition 
there."
"Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams 
is more powerful than one with all the facts".




From:   Adrian Crum <ad...@sandglass-software.com>
To:     dev@ofbiz.apache.org
Date:   02/21/2012 01:31 AM
Subject:        Re: Proposal about a time based release plan



Sounds great! I like the idea of separating release date roadmap from 
release feature roadmap.

-Adrian

On 2/21/2012 9:18 AM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I would like to share some ideas I have to make our release plan more 
clearer, public and well defined.
>
> This plan doesn't require additional work from the community (apart from 
the due diligence when we will call for votes) because I will take care 
about preparing release candidate files, sign them and call for votes; 
then publish them if the vote is successful.
> This is basically what we did in the last 2 years with the only (big) 
difference that the release schedule will be decided and announced in 
advance on fixed dates.
> For example, we could decide that during the year 2012 (the same scheme 
could be used for 2013 etc...) we will issue a release from each branch 
every 4 months like this:
>
> * release 11.04 around 2012-04-15
> * release 11.04.01 around 2012-08-15
> * release 11.04.02 around 2012-12-15
>
> * release 10.04.01 around 2012-03-15
> * release 10.04.02 around 2012-07-15
> * release 10.04.03 around 2012-11-15
>
> * release 09.04.02 around 2012-02-15
> * release 09.04.03 around 2012-06-15
> * release 09.04.04 around 2012-10-15
>
> Or we could decide on a less aggressive schedule and release each branch 
every 6 months etc...
>
> And we could also vote in advance for the time a release branch will be 
closed: for example we could vote that the community will not release and 
apply patches to the release branch 09.04 after the release 09.04.04 (this 
is just an example as I would like to propose to close the 09.04 branch 
earlier than this). New patches/contributions (always welcome) for that 
branch (after it is closed) will not be applied to the branch and will 
stay in Jira for interested parties (unless the community will decide to 
reopen it).
>
> In this way users will know in advance when a branch will be deprecated, 
how many bug fix releases will be issued and based on this information 
could prepare in time for the upgrades (or switch between major releases).
>
> Of course there will be exceptions: maybe we will have to release out of 
schedule to fix some major security issues or we could skip a release if 
no changes since the previous one were committed etc...
>
> When the plan is in place we could then prepare a nice roadmap diagram 
to be published in our Download page. The roadmap will not be feature 
based and for this reason it should be doable with the current structure 
and resources we have in the community: I know it would be also nice to 
plan and work together on a features set, but this will definitely require 
more coordination, agreement and effort... we can (and should) always try 
to do that also but this is another topic (for another thread).
> In the meantime, with this time based release plan we will have 
something real to play with.
>
> Please let me know what you think.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jacopo


Re: Proposal about a time based release plan

Posted by Adrian Crum <ad...@sandglass-software.com>.
Sounds great! I like the idea of separating release date roadmap from 
release feature roadmap.

-Adrian

On 2/21/2012 9:18 AM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I would like to share some ideas I have to make our release plan more clearer, public and well defined.
>
> This plan doesn't require additional work from the community (apart from the due diligence when we will call for votes) because I will take care about preparing release candidate files, sign them and call for votes; then publish them if the vote is successful.
> This is basically what we did in the last 2 years with the only (big) difference that the release schedule will be decided and announced in advance on fixed dates.
> For example, we could decide that during the year 2012 (the same scheme could be used for 2013 etc...) we will issue a release from each branch every 4 months like this:
>
> * release 11.04 around 2012-04-15
> * release 11.04.01 around 2012-08-15
> * release 11.04.02 around 2012-12-15
>
> * release 10.04.01 around 2012-03-15
> * release 10.04.02 around 2012-07-15
> * release 10.04.03 around 2012-11-15
>
> * release 09.04.02 around 2012-02-15
> * release 09.04.03 around 2012-06-15
> * release 09.04.04 around 2012-10-15
>
> Or we could decide on a less aggressive schedule and release each branch every 6 months etc...
>
> And we could also vote in advance for the time a release branch will be closed: for example we could vote that the community will not release and apply patches to the release branch 09.04 after the release 09.04.04 (this is just an example as I would like to propose to close the 09.04 branch earlier than this). New patches/contributions (always welcome) for that branch (after it is closed) will not be applied to the branch and will stay in Jira for interested parties (unless the community will decide to reopen it).
>
> In this way users will know in advance when a branch will be deprecated, how many bug fix releases will be issued and based on this information could prepare in time for the upgrades (or switch between major releases).
>
> Of course there will be exceptions: maybe we will have to release out of schedule to fix some major security issues or we could skip a release if no changes since the previous one were committed etc...
>
> When the plan is in place we could then prepare a nice roadmap diagram to be published in our Download page. The roadmap will not be feature based and for this reason it should be doable with the current structure and resources we have in the community: I know it would be also nice to plan and work together on a features set, but this will definitely require more coordination, agreement and effort... we can (and should) always try to do that also but this is another topic (for another thread).
> In the meantime, with this time based release plan we will have something real to play with.
>
> Please let me know what you think.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jacopo

Re: Proposal about a time based release plan

Posted by hongs bill <bi...@gmail.com>.
That's very good.

+1

2012/2/23 Malin Nicolas <ma...@librenberry.net>

> it's a clear vision for end user :)
>
> +1
>
> Nicolas
>
>
> Le 21/02/2012 10:18, Jacopo Cappellato a écrit :
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>>
>> I would like to share some ideas I have to make our release plan more
>> clearer, public and well defined.
>>
>> This plan doesn't require additional work from the community (apart from
>> the due diligence when we will call for votes) because I will take care
>> about preparing release candidate files, sign them and call for votes; then
>> publish them if the vote is successful.
>> This is basically what we did in the last 2 years with the only (big)
>> difference that the release schedule will be decided and announced in
>> advance on fixed dates.
>> For example, we could decide that during the year 2012 (the same scheme
>> could be used for 2013 etc...) we will issue a release from each branch
>> every 4 months like this:
>>
>> * release 11.04 around 2012-04-15
>> * release 11.04.01 around 2012-08-15
>> * release 11.04.02 around 2012-12-15
>>
>> * release 10.04.01 around 2012-03-15
>> * release 10.04.02 around 2012-07-15
>> * release 10.04.03 around 2012-11-15
>>
>> * release 09.04.02 around 2012-02-15
>> * release 09.04.03 around 2012-06-15
>> * release 09.04.04 around 2012-10-15
>>
>> Or we could decide on a less aggressive schedule and release each branch
>> every 6 months etc...
>>
>> And we could also vote in advance for the time a release branch will be
>> closed: for example we could vote that the community will not release and
>> apply patches to the release branch 09.04 after the release 09.04.04 (this
>> is just an example as I would like to propose to close the 09.04 branch
>> earlier than this). New patches/contributions (always welcome) for that
>> branch (after it is closed) will not be applied to the branch and will stay
>> in Jira for interested parties (unless the community will decide to reopen
>> it).
>>
>> In this way users will know in advance when a branch will be deprecated,
>> how many bug fix releases will be issued and based on this information
>> could prepare in time for the upgrades (or switch between major releases).
>>
>> Of course there will be exceptions: maybe we will have to release out of
>> schedule to fix some major security issues or we could skip a release if no
>> changes since the previous one were committed etc...
>>
>> When the plan is in place we could then prepare a nice roadmap diagram to
>> be published in our Download page. The roadmap will not be feature based
>> and for this reason it should be doable with the current structure and
>> resources we have in the community: I know it would be also nice to plan
>> and work together on a features set, but this will definitely require more
>> coordination, agreement and effort... we can (and should) always try to do
>> that also but this is another topic (for another thread).
>> In the meantime, with this time based release plan we will have something
>> real to play with.
>>
>> Please let me know what you think.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Jacopo
>>
>
>


-- 
I am hongs

Re: Proposal about a time based release plan

Posted by Malin Nicolas <ma...@librenberry.net>.
it's a clear vision for end user :)

+1

Nicolas

Le 21/02/2012 10:18, Jacopo Cappellato a écrit :
> Hi all,
>
> I would like to share some ideas I have to make our release plan more clearer, public and well defined.
>
> This plan doesn't require additional work from the community (apart from the due diligence when we will call for votes) because I will take care about preparing release candidate files, sign them and call for votes; then publish them if the vote is successful.
> This is basically what we did in the last 2 years with the only (big) difference that the release schedule will be decided and announced in advance on fixed dates.
> For example, we could decide that during the year 2012 (the same scheme could be used for 2013 etc...) we will issue a release from each branch every 4 months like this:
>
> * release 11.04 around 2012-04-15
> * release 11.04.01 around 2012-08-15
> * release 11.04.02 around 2012-12-15
>
> * release 10.04.01 around 2012-03-15
> * release 10.04.02 around 2012-07-15
> * release 10.04.03 around 2012-11-15
>
> * release 09.04.02 around 2012-02-15
> * release 09.04.03 around 2012-06-15
> * release 09.04.04 around 2012-10-15
>
> Or we could decide on a less aggressive schedule and release each branch every 6 months etc...
>
> And we could also vote in advance for the time a release branch will be closed: for example we could vote that the community will not release and apply patches to the release branch 09.04 after the release 09.04.04 (this is just an example as I would like to propose to close the 09.04 branch earlier than this). New patches/contributions (always welcome) for that branch (after it is closed) will not be applied to the branch and will stay in Jira for interested parties (unless the community will decide to reopen it).
>
> In this way users will know in advance when a branch will be deprecated, how many bug fix releases will be issued and based on this information could prepare in time for the upgrades (or switch between major releases).
>
> Of course there will be exceptions: maybe we will have to release out of schedule to fix some major security issues or we could skip a release if no changes since the previous one were committed etc...
>
> When the plan is in place we could then prepare a nice roadmap diagram to be published in our Download page. The roadmap will not be feature based and for this reason it should be doable with the current structure and resources we have in the community: I know it would be also nice to plan and work together on a features set, but this will definitely require more coordination, agreement and effort... we can (and should) always try to do that also but this is another topic (for another thread).
> In the meantime, with this time based release plan we will have something real to play with.
>
> Please let me know what you think.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jacopo