Re: Current stable tag slip status

[Bill Hacker <wbh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ed wrote:

> On Monday 21 March 2005 02:29, Matthew Dillon wrote:
>
> >    After the stable tag is slipped we will begin release engineering for
> >    a release prior to USENIX (which I will be at, BTW).  I am going to
> >    call this release 1.5 oweing to the fact that the big ticket journaling
> >    item isn't done.  The release date will be in early April.
> >
> >    Then, tentatively, since so much progress is being made, the 2.0
> > release will likely occur in September.
>
>
>
> I'd suggest to use lower release numbers.
> I think it's better to call 1.1 the April release, and then 1.2 and so.
>
> The fact is that if you jump from major numbers (1.x to 2.x) every year, the 
> first DF release with all the cool features will have a big number like 7 or 
> 8. And I don't think it's a good idea. Think at Mandrake 10, RedHat 10, 
> Solaris 10 and so on.
>
> Also, if you follow my advice you could be able to make a big step for a 
> particular milestone, for example jumping from 2.3 to 3.0. That would not be 
> possible if you already jump by 0.5 every 6 months.

I'm sure to branded a heretic here, but the 'numbers game'
is one of the less-attractive features of software.

How about a system such as:

STABLE releases = DFSMMMYY

- *never* a day, no suffix for major 'milestone' releases
- *2 digit* suffix for up to 100 per-month incremental changes.

i.e. DFSAPR05,  DFSAPR05.08

CURRENT releases = DFCMMMDDYY
- *always* a day
- *1 digit* suffix for up to ten per day incremental changes/patches

i.e.  DFCAPR0205, DFCAPR0205.01, DFCAPR0305.1, DFCAPR0305.2

EXPERIMENTAL or testing versions = DFXMMMDDYY.nn
- *always* a day
- 3-digit suffix handles as many as 100 on any given day...

Rationale for including 'DFS', 'DFC', or 'DFX' is immediate
and easy ID from uname -a or whatever.

I've seen too many threads (elsewhere) and even a
few here where information sought and
advice given were not in sync 'coz the parties were
not talking about the same code base.


YMMV.

Bill