[Live-demo] [live-demo] Kick-starting OSGeoLive 7.5

[Angelos Tzotsos]

Hi Cameron,

On 12/09/2013 01:17 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> Hi Angelos,
> Thanks for kick starting the process.
>
> Before we start the build process for 7.5, I suggest we discuss the 
> question:
> "Has OSGeo-Live reached a level of maturity where it would be best 
> served by annual releases instead of 6 month releases"?

In my opinion the answer is yes and no:
Yes, the project is much more mature now that it was 1 or 2 years ago. I 
expect it to become a bit more unstable when we move to Xubuntu 14.04, 
hopefully just for a little while...
No, 1 year release is not serving the project well. Actually there is no 
Linux distro out there having such a release cycle and the reason is 
very simple: free and open source is constantly changing, new features 
get implemented and users want the new features as soon as possible: 
Ubuntu (6 months), Fedora (6 months), openSUSE (8 months), Arch 
(rolling), Mint (6 months). The only exception is Debian (~2 years), but 
that is a different story, and there are unstable repositories available.
>
> The logic behind this question is:
> 1. OSGeo-Live is orders of magnitude larger than a few few releases, 
> which 3 times as many applications, and with each application 
> maintaining more documentation, as well as maintaining multiple 
> translations.

My proposal here is to split the project (since it grew too big):
- OSGeoLive ppa (UbuntuGIS or perhaps other)
- OSGeoLive apt repository (for packages not fitting under the Launchpad 
rules, eg. Java binary packages)
- OSGeoLive docs and translations (should be maintained separately and 
create a deb file periodically e.g. for every new commit)
- OSGeoLive data (also should be packaged in a deb file)
- OSGeoLive build scripts (for anything not in a deb file, e.g. the 
actual build files)

This would also simplify things:
All projects must provide deb packages, else they are not included in 
the 8.0 release. So 7.9 will be a transition release...

>
> 2. As such our critical mass for turning over a release requires more 
> effort than before.

If we manage to have everything as a deb file, actually this will be 
MUCH easier, plus we can upgrade between releases...
>
> 3. However, the good news is that the quality and stability of 
> OSGeo-Live applications has improved substantially, and as such I'd 
> argue that releases don't need to be turned over as often.

Yes this is true.
>
>

Best,
Angelos

-- 
Angelos Tzotsos
Remote Sensing Laboratory
National Technical University of Athens
http://users.ntua.gr/tzotsos