Re: [Axiom-developer] stable release schedule

[root]

re: monthly vs three-month releases

The way Axiom is now being developed allows us to have various 
branches "release" at different times. Currently there are about
10 branches running in parallel. So for a change to the windows
branch we would see many changes that are not reflected in main.

Eventually a version of windows passes tests and will get a tag.
This tagged version will eventually be merged into main while the
windows branch continues to develop.

The main would get tested and then published to savannah.

The key issue is that "small, system independent" changes and bug
fixes get pushed out on a monthly basis but larger efforts have
their own branches and get pushed out after passing tests. So 
developers in the windows branch are not under any pressure to
publish on any given month but the savannah cvs won't have to wait
for quick fixes.

The downside is that I get to test-and-release frequently but I'm
testing constantly anyway. The upsides are that savannah is up to date
and I don't have pressure in mid-month to "get this fix out immediately".

So even though savannah gets updated monthly for the next several months
there will be no windows support in the release. However the linux
support for hyperdoc won't have to wait (once I get it to work, of course).

Three-month release cycles seem to feel too long to me. There would be
great pressure to fix various known problems well before the three
months is up. And missing a single release means that a simple fix
could take 6 months to reach savannah. The world moves much faster
than that and we need to polish our process so it works smoothly
and cleanly.

t