Re: 8.5 development schedule

On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 1:33 AM, Peter Eisentraut<peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net> wrote:
> Now that 8.4.0 is out the door, development for 8.5devel will be opened any
> day now.  But we haven't discussed the development timeline so far.  The core
> team has several proposals:
>
> CommitFest      Alpha
> Aug. 1          Sept. 1
> Oct. 1          Nov. 1
> Dec. 1          Jan ~~ 5
> Feb. 1          March 4
>
> Release ~ May 2010
>
> This puts us on track for a release at the same time next year, maybe a little
> earlier.
>
> ("Alpha" is a semiformal snapshot release at the end of the commitfest, for
> those who haven't heard yet.  Details later.)
>
> If we want to avoid a commitfest in December, then this:
>
> CommitFest      Alpha
> Sept. 1         Oct. 1
> Nov. 1          Dec. 1
> Jan. 1          Feb 1
> March 1         April 2
>
> Release ~ June 2010
>
> But this has the drawback of waiting an extra month for the first commit fest,
> for no particularly good reason.  (Check the current list, if you are
> curious.)
>
> Or, one more commitfest:
>
> CommitFest      Alpha
> Aug. 1          Sept. 1
> Oct. 1          Nov. 1
> Dec. 1          Jan ~~ 5
> Feb. 1          March 3
> April 3         May 3
>
> Release ~ July 2010
>
> But that gets 8.5 out even later than this year, and past PGCon.
>
> Comments?

Now that the first CommitFest is over and done with, it's probably
time to revive this discussion. If we want people to get big patches
in prior to the last CommitFest, we'd better give the ample warning of
when the penultimate CommitFest is likely to start.

Since we started the first CommitFest on July 15th, and assuming we
want to stick with the timing of one CommitFest every 2 months, a
four-CommitFest cycle would look like this: July 15th, September 15th,
November 15th, January 15th. A five-CommitFest cycle would add an
additional CommitFest starting March 15th, but I think the last time
we had this discussion, most people were in favor of trying to get 8.5
out the door before PGCon.

I want to point out that if we want to have 8.4 be released at the
same time that 8.5 was, or maybe even a bit earlier in the year so
that it actually is before PGCon, then the right number of CommitFests
is THREE. Last time, we started the last CommitFest on November 1st.
With a three-CommitFest release, our final CommitFest will begin two
weeks later than it did last year; with a four-CommitFest release, it
will begin a month and a half later. Even if we assume we'll do a
better job with release management this time, it doesn't seem very
realistic to think that we're going to start the final CommitFest a
month and a half later and get the release out a month sooner.

...Robert