[lttng-dev] Release strategy

[Mathieu Desnoyers]

* Matthew Khouzam (matthew.khouzam at ericsson.com) wrote:
> Thank you very much, this clears up a lot of stuff
> 
> 
> On 13-07-23 11:30 PM, Christian Babeux wrote:
> > Hi Matthew,
> >
> > You certainly raise valid and interesting questions about our release
> > process. Here how I would categorize these questions:
> >
> > 1) Branching policy (when do we branch master? after the first release
> > candidate or after a final release?)
> >
> > 2) Release roadmap (when the next release is planned? what does it contain?)
> >
> > 3) Tentative release dates
> >
> > For 1), the current way we are doing things is that during a release
> > candidate phase for a new stable release, a complete code freeze is in
> > effect e.g. only bug fixes will be merged until a stable release is
> > out. Normally, after multiple release candidates, master is branched
> > into a stable branch and the final official stable release is created
> > from that branch.
> >
> > This could potentially cause troubles for contributors, e.g. posting a
> > set of patches and getting no response or waiting for merge if a
> > release candidate cycle is in effect. Any ideas/suggestions on how we
> > could improve this?
> Could you add a 'staging' branch for features, kind of like a passing
> lane on a highway?

The problem, as outlined by Jeremie in a separate email, is that it
would add more burden on the maintainer, which I would like to avoid as
much as possible. That is one reason why we are doing a feature freeze
during rc cycles. The second reason is that it forces everyone to test
the features that are in rc, rather than push new features without ever
stopping feature implementation to focus on testing.

Thanks,

Mathieu

> A gerrit like system also could help. that way people will be able to
> push patches and get reviews. Does redmine have something similar?
> 
> >
> > For 2), the release roadmap is available at [1]. The roadmap is kind
> > of a mess right now because bugs are assigned to older stable releases
> > giving the wrong impression that some stable releases are way late.
> >
> > We would need a way to distinguish between bugs on already released
> > versions and features targeting future versions. Perhaps something
> > like [2-3] could be promising?
> >
> > For 3), I would try to put tentative release dates on the roadmap on
> > Redmine or on a wiki article similar to [4]?
> >
> > Another point that you did not mention is how we plan minor releases.
> > I think we will need to define a clear policy for minor releases
> > sooner than later because it is becoming quite painful to support
> > three codebases (modules, ust, tools) with three stable branches...
> > Perhaps in another thread?
> >
> > On a more general note, I think clear communication is the key here.
> > I'm wondering if a monthly summary of the development activities on
> > LTTng and related projects could be interesting for the community?
> > Content example:
> >
> > - What have we accomplished in the past month.
> > - What we are planning for the following month.
> > - Release status (next stable tentative release dates, planned minor
> > releases, etc.)
> > - Etc.
> >
> > Any ideas/suggestions/constructive criticism on how we can improve our
> > release process are quite welcome!
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Christian
> >
> > [1] - http://bugs.lttng.org/projects/lttng/roadmap
> > [2] - http://www.redmine.org/plugins/advanced_roadmap
> > [3] - http://www.redmine.org/plugins/redmine_milestones
> > [4] - https://www.gnu.org/software/gdb/schedule/
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 23, 2013 at 3:52 PM, Matthew Khouzam
> > <matthew.khouzam at ericsson.com> wrote:
> >> Hello tracing rangers,
> >>
> >> I am a bit confused about the whole release cycle system.
> >>
> >> If you guys are in RC, I have a cool feature I was working on, where do
> >> I put it?
> >>
> >> When are releases coming out? is it planned or a surprise (I know it's
> >> planned)
> >>
> >> What are your hard / soft deadlines?
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Matthew
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> lttng-dev mailing list
> >> lttng-dev at lists.lttng.org
> >> http://lists.lttng.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lttng-dev
> 
> 
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-- 
Mathieu Desnoyers
EfficiOS Inc.
http://www.efficios.com