[Qgis-developer] Release plans

[Nathan Woodrow]

>>No. Just like with 2.2.

I think this is a real mistake and bad PR for the project.  If we want to
do it like this we need to refine out release plan better to have things
line up nice and smooth so people get what they expect.  The user isn't us,
we can build from source, they can not, nor should they.

dev cylce -> freeze -> no new strings -> 3 days out (or something) freeze
all non package code incl strings -> call packages/update versions/update
site code etc -> (on day) push website and packages -> announcement.

I suggest we need a calender on the website that shows using colors and
date ranges what is happening and when so no one gets a shock.

Here is what the current release feels like to a normal user who is coming
from the outside:

- Gets notified of the release (took about 10 seconds to go on twitter
after you sent the 2.2 email that it was "out" so it was not a hidden
thing, even on the weekend)
- Gets excited
- Heads to website
- "Ok banner still say 2.2 but there is a download link"
-  Click download.
- Run installer
- "oh 2.2. Didn't it say 2.4 was out?"
- *check back for later for you packages* "How long do I have to wait?"
- *........ please come again*
- (Never comes back) or is annoyed as heck
- *meanwhile*
- We push master forward, features flow in like normal.
- "Oh hi I found a major bug in 2.4 is there any planned patched release"
- "Meh"

This is bad PR, even without the patched release thing, a release is a
binary release to a user. A source tarball means nothing.

I remember having to respond to a heap of annoyed people on the QGIS
twitter/Facebook account with "we are currently building package, please
hold"

- Nathan



On Thu, Jun 26, 2014 at 9:58 PM, Jürgen E. <jef at norbit.de> wrote:

> Hi Nathan,
>
> On Thu, 26. Jun 2014 at 21:22:54 +1000, Nathan Woodrow wrote:
> > 1) Are we planning on having packages ready to go before the official
> > announcement?
>
> No. Just like with 2.2.
>
>
> > 2) Is the website going to be updated before/just after the announcement
> to
> >    point to the packages?
>
> When the package arrive the website is going to be updated.  Where
> necessary,
> not all links have an explicit version number in them.  And we should
> probably
> also get rid of those that do - so we don't need to change that just
> because
> the current release version number changed.
>
>
> > 3) Are we holding the feature freeze for a month/two weeks after release
> in
> >    case something comes up that is a real hurt point to hold off on?
>
> No.  Once the release is branched and tagged, master is open for new
> features
> again.  Just like with 2.2.   Fixes can be applied to the release branch -
> although there still isn't an official plan if/when/how such updates would
> end
> up in packages.
>
>
> > If 2.4 "release" on the 27 is going to be just a email to call for
> packages,
> > could it be just labeled as such, don't use the words "Release", or
> "QGIS 2.4
> > is out" because it will go everywhere raising the issues in 1).
>
> No, just like with 2.2
>
> http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-user/2014-February/026281.html
>
> and as on the roadmap:
>
> http://qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/development/index.html#road-map
>
>
> Jürgen
>
> --
> Jürgen E. Fischer         norBIT GmbH               Tel. +49-4931-918175-31
> Dipl.-Inf. (FH)           Rheinstraße 13            Fax. +49-4931-918175-50
> Software Engineer         D-26506 Norden
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>
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