[postgis-devel] Getting PostGIS 3.0alpha1 super early

[Regina Obe]

> So what is the expected timeline of first alpha, first beta, first rc,
release?  Are
> we in feature freeze?  Or a list of feature changes that are allowed, and
others
> aren't?  To me, the big thing is to have an overall release plan, not to
talk
> about if it's alpha time.  I have no idea if we are talking 1 month or 6,
just a
> memory that releases are often surprisingly rushed....
> 
> 
> Getting testing by people that can't build from source is IMHO too hard
> (because it requires not only alphas/beta/rc but also packaging them and
> distributing binary packages).  It seems like it shouldn't be that hard to
build
> and if it is, that could be addressed.
[Regina Obe] 

I think once we have done the remove header install (and make all liblwgeom
static (if we agree to that) )

Only 4 more changes:

1) break postgis_sfcgal out into its own .so, note it was already a separate
extension, so this is more a packaging change than a user facing change
2) remove header install (and possibly remove liblwgeom install as a
library)
3) Paul can comment on this -- I think we were going to change the postgis
geometry structure a bit to perhaps have some extra bits and allow for
different storage types.
I haven't been paying attention if that is done or just experimental on his
fork.
4) We may drop support for GEOS 3.5


Big things we've already got that aren't going to change before release

1) postgis_raster is NOW a separate extension (it was always a separate lib
file) so this is big user facing change
2) Getting rid of the minor version on the lib file - so now it's just
postgis-3, rtpostgis-3, postgis_sfcgal-3, postgis_topology-3
And will be this way from PostGIS 3.0 thru PostGIS 3.last-minor-version
3) Dropped support for PostgreSQL 9.4 (9.5+ is only ones supported) - still
need to update the docs to reflect this


So alpha I'd like to get the first 3 out of the way and Ideally the decision
on GEOS also.

It won't be a feature freeze for functions, we'll still be adding in new
functions, but those won't change packaging or upgrade process.