Re: 21.2.90 pretest, 21.3, 21.4...

[storm@cua.dk (Kim F. Storm)]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@is.elta.co.il> writes:

> Feature freeze means there are _no_ new features until the thaw; Kai 
> suggested a finer control (allow some new features, but not others).

IMO, a feature freeze on the trunk at the current state would be OK!

There are now so many new features and fixes compared to 21.[1-3], that
starting a pretest cycle for 21.4 from the trunk would be a _good thing_
to start getting all those new features tested (before we add even more
features).

Admittedly, it would halt "development" on the trunk for, say 2-3
months, but what's the purpose of such developments anyway if we
(virtually) never make a release containing those new features?

So I suggest that we announce a date (e.g. Dec 1st) for a trunk
feature freeze and make the first pretest for 21.4 soon thereafter,
with the goal of releasing 21.4 no later than Mar 1st, 2003!

In my experience, the trunk has been very stable for a very long time
[with a few hickups of course], so after the first few pretests, I
would assume that the software would be stable enough for a release,
or at least stable enough that we could make a 21_4 release branch for
ironing out the final issues with the 21.4 release and remove the
feature freeze on the trunk before Mar 1st (or whenever 21.4 will
actually be ready).

Are anyone of you aware of any significant stability (or redisplay)
related bugs that we need to fix before 21.4 ?

Are there any of the on-going tasks which *must be* completed before
we release 21.4 ?

I know we need some work on the manuals for the new features; maybe
the goal of releasing 21.4 soon will also move our focus towards
writing proper documentation for the new features (I know I still have
a few pending tasks in that area).

WDYT ??

-- 
Kim F. Storm <storm@cua.dk> http://www.cua.dk