[GRASS-dev] GRASS 6.4.0 release branch forthcoming

[Hamish]

Paul wrote:
> I still think at some point a 6.4 release branch will be needed (when we 
> want to add new features) but I think we should put off creating it as 
> long as possible to reduce work. That's all - it depends on other 
> developers agreeing to restrict the changes we make to develbranch_6
> for a while though.


If only to keep options open for a possible 6.5/6 release we'll eventually
need a releasebranch_6_4. For stability reasons this should be done, at
minimum, before the last (say) two RCs before the final release -- ie the
onset of the hard freeze.

Because this is likely to be the last new-features release before 7.0,
and that "may be some time", I don't mind a softer freeze a little later
than normal. What does a soft-freeze mean? I'd say keep going as we have
been with devbr6, and rely on developer discipline to not commit anything
too radical. As we already have an outlet for radicalness with gr7, I
don't think it will be too hard.


So my 2c plan of action would be to first finalize the module list (trac
task #344) in the next week by bringing over addons destined for main.
Once that is done we could tag a release_$DATE_grass_6_4_0RC1 directly
from devbr6 and declare devbr6 to be temporarily in stability mode.

Once r.out.gdal and other critical issues are dealt with, and the newly
merged modules have had a chance to settle in (inevitable portability
issues that pop up, etc) we could tag another RC, say 3 weeks after RC1.
We can decide at that point if RC2 will be the bugfix-only branch point
or again tagged directly from devbr6. No way of knowing, but it seems
reasonable to me to expect that RC2 could be the branch point.

After the release branch point, backports to that branch will be naturally
kept in check by the PITA that it is to sync things.

A question remains for me wrt after 6.4.0 is released if grass7<->devbr6
development will be kept in sync as it is now. (for possible 6.5/6)
I'll defer an opinion about that until the time of the last 6.4.0 RC.



Hamish