[Qgis-developer] Release plans for QGIS 0.11.0 and on to 1.0

[Tim Sutton]

Hi


Em May 28, 2008, às 10:24 AM, Martin Dobias escreveu:

> Hi Tim
>
> On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 5:23 PM, Tim Sutton <tim at linfiniti.com> wrote:
>>
>> It would be great to get a heads up on what others are working on  
>> so we can
>> start planning for press releases etc. Going by June 30 as a  
>> target release
>> date, I proposed the following dates for the release:
>>
>> June  9 - Feature freeze - bug fixing only from here on forward
>> June 16 - String freeze and call for translations
>> June 23 - Branch for release & call for packaging
>> June 30 - Unleash Metis on the world...
>>
>> Does that work ok for everyone?
>
> Looks fine for me. My further plans are to add dependency checking for
> python plugins (if I'll be able to get it ready on time)
>
>> I suggest Jef put his code formatting stuff through just before we  
>> do branch
>> for release so that there is no active work going on in trunk -  
>> though this
>> may impact people working out in branches so is it maybe better to  
>> wait for
>> just before 1.0 before Jef puts the formatting updates in?
>
> Better to wait and apply it before 1.0.

Right I think this is about the general consensus. Jef will you hold  
on on this until just before 1.0 is released?

>
>> Following the above plan, we will have another 1.5 months until  
>> August 15 -
>> the planned release date for QGIS 1.0. So ideally 0.11.0 is the  
>> last chance
>> to get those last minute features in, and with the exception of  
>> labelling,
>> composer and raster catalogues, no new features should be going  
>> into trunk
>> post 0.11.0 release.
>
> Btw. any news from the GSoC student regarding the map labeling  
> implementation?

Gary is mentoring the student and so can probably give more info. It  
would be great to pass along any hints you have - I remember you had  
some interedsting papers describing efficient approaches to  
labelling. AFAIK the student is planning to have the labelling done  
at around the same time as 1.0 release.

>
>> I'm anticipating a 1.0.1 release if possible in time for  
>> FOSS4G2008 (late
>> Sept) which will be purely bug fixing for anything we missed in  
>> 1.0 release.
>
> What about further roadmap?

I think the last time we discussed this, the general concensus was  
that we would put all our focus into 1.0 for now and after 1.0 goes  
out, have a period of planning for 2.0. I would hope that we can  
limit the features to what we can achieve over the course of 1 year  
or so, with a couple of preview releases during that time.

> Schedule of 1.x versions?

During the same period as 2.0 development we should aim to keep our  
more or less 2 month cycle running with bug fix releases to QGIS 1.0.  
In my opinion we should try to identify an official maintainer for  
1.0 (like the Linux kernel folks do for each release).

> Are we going to
> maintain stable ABI?

I'm not experienced with the in's and outs of what is required to  
maintain ABI compatibility within a C++ / Qt project. Could you point  
to any good resource on this.

> API?

My feeling is that we should maintain API compatibility for the 1.x  
lifecycle so that poor plugin etc developers dont need to work  
against a moving target any more.

> Some plans for 2.0?

Well there are certain things I would like to see introduced in 2.0:

- decent line symbolisation
- google spatial search api integration
- compostion, prerender, render in threads and render caching
- start introducing analytical functions into core C++ code


I cant speak for others, who no doubt have their own ideas about what  
they would like to see.

> The problem I see often is that we just know where we are but we're
> missing some direction and vision... There are always just very
> short-time release plans. I have in my mind some greater changes
> (geometry refactor, plugins/providers enhancements, vector handling
> enhancements) but I don't get idea when to do them.

I dont agree with the first part of your statement so much. Gary had  
a clear set of features defined for version 1.0 for many years I  
think. I agree that version 2.0 is not well defined, but I think this  
was a conscious choice more than an oversight, since it became very  
apparent that version 1.0 would never get out unless we focus  
strongly on it and resist the temptation to spend time on 2.0 until  
1.0 is out the door. Once 1.0 is release I beleive the idea was that  
we would go through a planning period to map out what needs to be  
done for 2.0. That said Im certain there would be no harm in e.g.  
starting up a wiki page to brain dump ideas for things to go into  
2.0. My other feeling for 2.0 is that we should be free to break ABI/ 
API compatibility so that we can be free to make radical revisions if  
the need arises. As to your specific items above my feeling is that  
we should be avoiding as much as possible anything that isnt actively  
moving the 1.0 forward to a release ready state. I cant tell from the  
items you mention whether this is the case or not for your ideas  
above, and probably Marco is the guy to consult in this regard.

>
>> We also need to finalise our Hack fest - can we set a final date  
>> etc over
>> the next week Paolo? Its looking like mid-late June is going to  
>> work best
>> for me  since I will be starting a new job in July. I see on the  
>> hackfest
>> page that June is good for some other folks too. Could we firm up  
>> a date for
>> this?
>
> I'm sorry but it looks like I won't be able to participate - June is
> full of exams and visitors and then moving back to Slovakia, from
> mid-July I'm on holidays in India until mid-September. I could
> participate during the autumn...

:-( I was looking forward to getting some hand-standing tips :-P Well  
hopefully we can arrange the next one so that you can attend, or  
perhaps there is some way to get you out to SA for FOSS4GEO2008,  
where a number of other QGISsers will be attending too.

I must say it is really cool to see how much the python work you have  
done has spawned a developer community of its own. I was actually  
wondering if we shouldnt start a qgis-python mailing list since it  
seems to be an area of QGIS with a life of its own...

Regards

Tim



>
> Cheers
> Martin

Tim Sutton
QGIS Project Steering Committee Member - Release Manager
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