Re: Getting closer to a 1.5 release?

From: Karl Fogel <kfogel_at_red-bean.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:49:57 -0800

"Mark Phippard" <markphip_at_gmail.com> writes:
> I'd like to hear what people doing the work think about where we are
> in relationship to starting the 1.5 release process.
>
> I know there is some branch activity that needs to be wrapped up and
> merged back to trunk before we can branch for 1.5. Other than the
> reintegrate branch, are there any others that need to be merged to
> trunk before we branch? Estimates on when we will be ready?
>
> Anyone want to give their feelings on what needs to happen after we
> branch in order to get us to RC1?

Two independent questions going on here:

1) When do we branch?
2) How close are we to RC1 (and thence to final release)?

Taking (1) first: since we're probably holding up non-1.5 trunk
development, we should branch as soon as we can. But there are some
big decisions we haven't made yet, about exactly what goes into 1.5.
That's going to need a separate thread (sorry), and I'll post about it
right after this. We really need to nail down what's going in,
whether we're shipping with an SQLite dependency or not, etc.

As far as (2), I think that once we branch, we're probably a month
away from an RC1 (though some kind of alpha could come sooner).
That's pessimistic, but 1.5 is an unusually large release and we'll
have a lot of stabilizing to do.

> Finally, any ideas on things we can do to kickstart this process and
> get things wrapped up? I know we all want this release done so we can
> move on. When I start looking at the calendar, counting out when we
> might have an RC1, then counting out to when there would be a GA it
> gets depressing. That is a bad way to start a new year -- depressed.
> I know there are a lot of us that have been working hard to get this
> release done. What more can be done to move the process along and
> maybe pick up some new momentum? Ideas welcomed.

IMHO the single most important thing we can do is make the hard calls
about what goes in and what doesn't, and stick to those decisions.
(Again, separate thread, coming in a moment.)

> When we branch for 1.5 I intend to produce and host various binaries
> based on the branch so that we can hopefully get some testing and
> feedback that will move us closer to RC1.

Excellent! That'll be a big help.

> Anyway, not expecting definitive answers but it is good to hear
> feedback from others. We have not talked about this in quite a while
> with the holidays and all. On the positive side, it seems like things
> are wrapping up and we have solutions in place or being finalized for
> the main problems.

Agreed.