At this point, fudje joined the conversation.
Should major releases be made at a fixed interval (i.e. every x months)? If so, how long?
zimluura: yes, i'd say 4 or 6
Venzon: doing more frequent releases would be great. [...] if we do a stable branch and a development branch, then we could potentially release whenever someone has time to go through the process. [...] i'm kind of gravitating toward the idea of pushing a release (hopefully automatically) anytime someone merges something from the development branch to the stable branch
fudje: Well just based off that I'd say that the project doesn't have enough "active" contributors for a fixed release term unless you want to be very flexible about the target dates. [...] There'd need to be at least one person dedicated to that stable branch while it's diverging from the development branch.
thelusiv: i think we should set a target date, and use that to pick a set of goals that will take about that long. if we miss a release target, oh well, set it back a few weeks and try again. [...] we'd need to only commit to features which people plan to work on, and keep the goal list short so we will have plenty of time
_nan_: i'd like to avoid mixing fixed dates with goals. either feature or fixed interval releases
Should a goal set for releases be chosen by the developers in advance?
thelusiv: _nan_ makes a good point, i agree with that
fudje: I think the best model is probably to have a set-ish release date and a merge window. It sounds very formal but it makes working on new features a little easier. If they're not ready by the time you need to be squashing bugs only, you can set them aside for the next release. [...] The merge window idea comes from much larger projects like the Linux kernel, which use DVCS
zimluura: good point
_nan_: who is going to review what is ready? [...] i am ok as long as i don't have to do the work
Venzon: i think you can make that decision nan, with the help of testers like thelusiv
When should the next VDrift release be done?
Venzon: what changes are in trunk right now that are different from the 6-30-10 release? and also are there any huge bugs in there right now that have to be fixed before a release?
fudje: It's most physics fixes and the multilanguage stuff isn't it? [...] Also wishbone suspension has a conceptual design bug (Oops). I don't have time to fix it until January.
_nan_: replays are broken. i'd love to work on the suspenion, merge my branch, but that needs time [...] there are some sync issues(bullet), don't think it is an easy one
Venzon: sounds like after we fix replays we can release whenever everyone has time to do the process
thelusiv: that sounds good to me
Everything about Releases needs further discussion here in the forums. There is already a thread for it:
http://vdrift.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=1455
