Re: [boost] Proposal for radically altered approach to releases

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-05-11 15:34:41

Pedro Lamarão wrote:
> Beman Dawes escreveu:
> 
>> I've put a fair amount of thought into this proposal, and have run some 
>> Subversion simulations to make sure it works smoothly.
>>
>> What do others think?
> 
> Here:
> 
> "Formal releases occur on a regular schedule. The formal release
> procedure is simply to package up the last tagged revision of stable,
> publish release candidates, and decide if there are any issues serious
> enough to wait for the next stable tag point."
> 
> If this process would contemplate a bugfix branches associated with
> stable tags, and if some backporting fixes effort were made, the people
> complaining about API stability would be happier.

Separate bug fix release were not envisioned. The known-stable point 
releases serve as bug fix releases.

My intuitive feeling is that Boost library interfaces tend to stay 
stable for relatively long periods of time, so API stability isn't an issue.

> No need to bugfix for ever; maybe just the previous release; or whatever
> is confortable enough. This should just give more longevity, and a
> healthier old age, to each Boost release.

The proposed model does not start with a fresh branch for each release. 
Instead, the stable branch *becomes* the release branch. So there really 
isn't such a thing as a bug fix branch that has to be maintained.

Thanks,

--Beman