[Qgis-user] LTR Support Improvements for 2022

[Bo Victor Thomsen]

Hi Marco -

First of all, I would like to thank you and the PSC for keeping the 
concept of LTR. I was worried after the discussion on developer list 
recently.

My personal opinion - based on empirical observations of QGIS usage  and 
as a member of the steering committee of the Danish QGIS user group - is 
that a vast majority of QGIS user (at least in Denmark) is using a 
recent version of QGIS LTR as their primary QGIS system.  And the 
adventurous users or users in need have a parallel installation of a 
later, non-LTR QGIS on the same pc.

It would be detrimental to the effort of expanding or even keeping the 
QGIS user base if you abandoned the LTR concept.

Regarding your questions:

  * The reduction of number of 12  yearly point releases to 4 has no
    practical disadvantages and will reduce the work effort of getting
    the releases out of the door. I don't know a single organisation
    that install all the point releases. 4 is fine.

  * The saved time could - and probably will - be used for more
    extensive testing the 4 releases. This will result in overall better
    releases with fewer errors than before.

  * And - again - my experience is, that the vast, vast majority of QGIS
    users is on Windows. It makes sense to maximize the pre-release
    testing effort on this platform.

  * AFAIK, my installed QGIS is communicating with QGIS.org using the
    newsfeed facility. You can turn it off if you want to.  I don't see
    anything problematic in delivering information of the operating
    system type together with the QGIS version.

So a big +1 and thumbs-up on all 4 proposals.

Med venlig hilsen / Kind regards

Bo Victor Thomsen

Den 20-11-2021 kl. 08:00 skrev Marco Bernasocchi:
> Dear community,
>
> since their introduction, QGIS LTR versions have gained wide-spread 
> popularity [0]. LTR point releases have always followed the regular 
> monthly release cycle [1] creating a constant flow of point releases 
> that likely exceeds the update frequency that LTR users desire and 
> actually roll-out.
>
> To further improve our LTR offering and ensure the reliability of our 
> installers, we propose to introduce pre-release LTR package tests. 
> These semi-automated and manual tests will be performed during a 
> two-week period between packaging and announcement of new packages.
>
> The 2022 budget proposal will account for the additional costs of 
> pre-release LTR package tests. To stay within a reasonable budget and 
> allow for an appropriate number of tests, we propose to reduce the LTR 
> point release frequency to quarterly (four times a year) and initially 
> limit testing to the platform with our largest user base (Windows).
>
> If accepted, the new quarterly schedule would start as soon as the 
> whole testing infrastructure is ready. This would probably be 
> introduced stepwise during the 3.22 lifecycle and become definitive in 
> the 3.28 cycle.
>
> Together with this proposal, to quantify the userbases by operating 
> system, and be able to make data driven decisions in the future, the 
> QGIS network user agent now includes a generic string mentioning the 
> user’s operating system. You can read more about the change here [2].
>
> We are looking forward to hearing what you think about these news 
> plans and your ideas how they may be improved.
>
> On behalf of the PSC,
> Have a great weekend
>
> Marco
>
> [0] https://blog.qgis.org/2020/04/02/ltr-usage-survey/
> [1] 
> https://qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/development/roadmap.html#release-schedule
> [2] https://github.com/qgis/QGIS/pull/46090
>
> -- 
> Marco Bernasocchi
>
> QGIS.org Chair
> OPENGIS.ch CEO
> http://berna.io
>
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