Re: State of the release

[Jan Warchoł]

Hi Graham & all,

2011/4/3 Graham Percival <address@hidden>:
> Ok, now that any doubts about my meta-april fool's joke are over,
> I'd like to sound out opinions about 2.14.
>
>
> GOOD NEWS
>
> I think we've finally resolved our "technical debt" -- it's been a
> while since I've seen Critical issues that were introduced over a
> year ago.  The remaining Critical issues are things that we
> introduced in the past 2-3 weeks.
>
>
> BAD NEWS
>
> On the bad side of things, we have Critical issues that we
> introduced in the past 2-3 weeks.  If those bugs hadn't slipped
> in, then my April fool's joke might not have been a joke.
>
> ... wow, that would have been an even better meta-joke.  Almost
> everybody would think it _was_ a prank, but then when it turned
> out that the binaries were actually there... lol, eh?  :)

wondeful indeed :)

> CHOICE TIME
>
> For the past few months, I've been occupied with teaching, so I
> deliberately decided that I wouldn't jump up and down and try to
> get a stable release out.  If it happened, it'd happen; if not, no
> worries.  We had four release candidates, starting on 12 Jan until
> a few days ago.
>
> Development at the moment feels "comfortable".  That's not
> necessarily a bad thing, of course!  But I don't think that we're
> getting as much done as we _could_ be doing.
>
>
> I'm reminded of the dilemma faced by conductors of amateur
> orchestras (and probably choirs, theatrical groups, etc).  Some
> people (such as myself) like a strict conductor who always demands
> their best; rehearsals are always stressful, but very productive
> and (to me) fulfilling.  Other people prefer a relaxed atmosphere;
> they come to orchestra after a hard day's work, they haven't
> touched their instrument in the past week... but they have enough
> stress in their lives and certainly won't put up with a conductor
> yelling at them.  Neither group is objectively "right"; it's
> simply a question of deciding what type of orchestra you want to
> have.
>
> In a similar way, I'm wondering how we want to approach the next
> few weeks.  When somebody introduces a regression, should we frown
> at them (and maybe revert the bad commit), or just shrug and
> laugh?  Should we try to have a "sprint" towards resolving the
> current crop of Critical issues and get 2.14 out the door, or just
> let it happen "when it happens"?

I prefer having a "relaxed" attitude. However, if anyone would
discover that any of my patches introduces a regression, i would urge
to revert it myself.
I don't want to go too GOPish (there will be time for that), so just
in a nutshell: let's not yell at people, but let's consider reverting
probematic commits a valid way of solving a regression.

cheers,
Janek