On Thu, 2006-09-14 at 14:16 -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> Stefan Kaltenbrunner <stefan@kaltenbrunner.cc> writes:
> > Point I want to make is - all those are cool features(and might be
> > critical for some) but I don't think they warrant a dramatic change in
> > the release cycle policy ...
>
> Any release is going to have some things that are compelling and some
> that aren't, for any particular person ... it's just that those things
> vary depending on who you are ...
>
> I was heard to gripe not long ago that feature freeze during August was
> bad timing. It would be interesting to try to do it during the spring
> instead, just to see if people have more free time then. So for me,
> +1 for a shorter-than-a-year cycle this time, independently of what
> features make it or don't.
July 1 or Aug 1 as the *real* date has always been a problem for me. My
kids will be on vacation from school at that time for a few years yet.
I'd vote for a date in mid-May, when nobody is on holiday and lots of
people are available for 6-8 weeks after Feature Freeze. Specific
suggestion: 2nd Monday in May, which falls 14 May in 2007.
8.1 was a short release. If we make 8.3 a short release also, we may as
well say the release cycle is 18 months not 12. Seems like we spend a
lot of time releasing if we do it that way. :-(
If 8.3 is a short release, I would hope that it happens as a permanent
move to the new time-of-year, so we can get back to 12 month release
cycles (which I like).
I'd like to get some clarity on those dates as soon as possible, if they
are significantly earlier than May. EDB is planning some major work, so
need to see whether those projects are 8.3 or 8.4 timescale.
Whatever the date, I'd like to suggest we have 2 sync points a year, not
one. Sync point meaning where we clear the patch queue and consolidate,
but don't go through the whole release process. That way we won't get
this stupidly busy period where Bruce and Tom go into overdrive while
everyone else waits before they begin next developments. Checkpoints are
a performance issue, as we know. Right now, you can only start big
projects once each year and whichever way you cut it, 8.4 is a long way
off yet.
-- Simon Riggs EnterpriseDB http://www.enterprisedb.com
