Re: [boost] Should we provide hot fixes?

From: Christian Larsen (contact_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-08-25 17:03:49

Beman Dawes skrev:
> Daniel Wallin wrote:
>> It that's the case then that problem won't go away by releasing patches
>> rather than point releases; they still need testing.
> 
> But the patch testing occurs on trunk and branches/release. We are 
> already testing those, so no additional testing, reporting, or admin 
> effort is required.

If regression testing is already being performed on both trunk and 
branches/release, I don't see why you would not want to do something 
like what I proposed here: 
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.boost.devel/178864/focus=178958

Back then the reason for not doing it this way was testing obstacles, 
but if both trunk *and* a release branch are tested, I don't see the 
problem. It is just a matter of switching which release branch is tested 
once for each major release. I.e. now testing should be performed on 
trunk and releases/boost_1_36. For the next major release it would be 
trunk and branches/boost_1_37.

If the release process can be made more automated (preferably nearly 
fully automatic), all the features that people ask regarding the release 
process will come nearly for free (without extra burden for either 
developers or release managers).

That is you are able to keep a stable, *tested* interface on the release 
branch (e.g. branches/boost_1_36), while providing hotfixes there (see 
my other post), and you can easily create point releases by at some 
point in time ensuring that test results are acceptable on the release 
branch, tagging it, and creating a release package.

At the same time normal development and adding new features or interface 
breaking changes is going on in trunk, which is also tested all the 
time. For the next major release, you would just create a new branch, 
branches/boost_1_37, from trunk, and switch testing to that new release 
branch.

Also note that users wishing to keep up to date with all bugfixes, but 
still wanting a stable interface, would just have to checkout and update 
the current release branch, e.g. branches/boost_1_36.

Best regards,
Christian