RE: emacs 21.2

["Marshall, Simon" <simon.marshall@misys.com>]

> I'm sorry to hear that.  From the v21.2 pretest experience, it sounds
> like the interest in trying the pretest versions has diminished lately
> in general.  If that is so, the adverse effects of that will certainly
> show in the long run in the quality of our releases.  I lament that
> tendency, and hope I'm dead wrong in my conclusions.
> 
> I wish people would understand that sometimes stability is more
> important than fixing some annoying misbehavior or adding new
> features.  I wish more people who read this list would participate in
> pretesting Emacs, even if the release under pretest is a minor bugfix.

I don't know if you meant to direct this comment at the emacs-devel list
only; I changed the recipients from emacs-pretesters when I brought this
up since I originally just wanted to understand the release policy.

If it was directed at pretesters, then, put yourself in my (a pretester)
shoes.  I spent a large amount of my own time tracking down problems
with the last pretest & coming up with some fixes & testing others'.  I
did it because I thought it would be worth it: I thought the next Emacs
release would fix those problems.  Why would I bother if fixes wouldn't
appear in the next release?  Why would I bother if I could just leave it
to the pretests after next (or some future) release?

> Of course, since there's a judgement call involved, everybody is
> welcome to step forward and argue for the changes they think should
> be included.  But if you don't speak up, I can't see how can we take
> your views into account.

I think it is difficult for pretesters to follow the release policy
(assuming that they know what it is---I didn't/don't) and make these
kinds of judgements.  I think it has to come down to the judgement of
you guys.

I think your release policy itself is wrong---assuming I know what it
is---I think the only reason to release a version that does not fix
serious but not necessarily fatal bugs is when a quick release is needed
because the previous release was broken.  I think 21.2 should have fixed
known serious bugs as well as addressed "stability" (however you define
that) issues.

To take your 2nd para above, you say "even if the release under pretest
is a minor bugfix".  What on Earth does this mean?  IMHO, and no
criticism should be taken by anyone at all, it had some serious
behaviour and performance bugs.  Are you saying that, from the
beginning, only minor fixes would be going in 21.2?  What was the point
of that?

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