[GRASS-PSC] [GRASS-dev] Grass7 tech-preview release [was Re: [GRASS-user] to move or not move ? grass64 <- ? -> 7.0]

[Markus Metz]

I like the idea of a tech-preview release of GRASS7!

I think that no more (or at least not many) major changes will go into
GRASS 7, apart from the wxGUI code base. Therefore it would IMHO be
very beneficial to get more feedback on GRASS 7 in order to detect and
fix remaining bugs.

I also like your proposed release schedule of max 1-2 weeks.

Markus M


On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 10:25 AM, Moritz Lennert
<mlennert at club.worldonline.be> wrote:
> On 18/03/13 23:04, Markus Neteler wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 9:53 AM, Rainer M Krug<r.m.krug at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> ...
>>>
>>> Following the discussion, I would like to install GRASS 7 weekly
>>> snapshot. I relized the "Binary"
>>> link (http://grass.osgeo.org/download/software/) but it points back to
>>> the Linux Download page,
>>> but I could not find any binaries there for GRASS 7? Maybe this link
>>> should be removed?
>>>
>>> Just wondering, but not a problem, as I am going to install from source
>>> anyway.
>>
>>
>> In the past days I have cleaned up several of the Web pages.
>> I hope they are much clearer now. GRASS 7 downloads are now properly
>> mentioned as well.
>
>
> Much clearer now !
>
> I would like to take this debate as an opportunity to touch upon the
> question of a possible tech-preview release of GRASS7.
>
> Several reasons for that:
>
> - More and more people are using it (and we are pushing more and more people
> toward using it). Binaries are available for windows and mac, but not for
> most Linux distributions. A preview release might make it easier for these
> distributions to package grass7 and make it available to a larger audience.
>
> - In many institutions it is (understandably) not easy to convince
> IT-managers to install development snapshots instead of released software.
> Having an official release (even if it is only a tech-preview release)
> should make it easier to install grass7 in institutional settings.
>
> - I think that grass7 is in a form where we can start advertising it more
> widely and more officially. In terms of timing, it would be great to be able
> to get this out before FOSS4G.
>
> - From my own egotistical viewpoint, I would love to be able to use grass7
> in my classes next school year, and having a release would make it much
> easier for me to do that.
>
> Concretely, I see the following type of procedure to make it possible:
>
> - Freeze the svn repository for any direct new commits for a short period
> (I'd say max 1-2 weeks). Only a few "release managers" should still have
> direct commit access at this point. (Another way to do it would be to keep
> commit rights open to anyone, and the role of the release managers would be
> to control all commits and revert those that aren't simple bug fixes during
> the freeze).
>
> - Publish the state of the code at the beginning of the freeze as RC1 with a
> wide call for testing.
>
> - Only bug fix* commits.
>
> - Publish RC2 after some bug fixing (possibly after one week).
>
> - Continue bug fixing*.
>
> - Release tech-preview (possibly at the end of week 2) with a huge
> disclaimer that this is a tech-preview release and not considered final and
> stable.
>
> - Open repository again for more general development.
>
>
> I don't think we should create a release branch as this would just be a
> tech-preview snaphot of the ongoing development.
>
> This obviously implies that we plan ahead and that all developers know when
> this freeze will happen, thus avoiding to commit any large and fundamental
> changes just before the freeze. And that we all put aside time during that
> freeze for testing and bug fixing.
>
> What do you think ?
>
> Moritz
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