Proposed IcedTea 6 release

[Andrew Haley]

Mark Wielaard wrote:
> On Sat, 2009-08-08 at 08:56 +0100, Andrew Haley wrote:
>> IMO we spend far too much time discussing these issues.  We need to make
>> this standard procedure: whenever there are fixes for significant bugs we
>> apply them to the current release branch and make a minor release.
>> Whenever there are significant new features we make a major release.
>> A lot of the discussion in this list is, IMO, a result of confusing
>> these unrelated issues.
>>
>> The ARM port is all ready to go in apart from one minor problem.  This can
>> be fixed in the next few days, I hope, and the testing can begin.
> 
> Right. I think the confusion comes from where people think we are in the
> release cycle. It would be good if we had more timed releases, say every
> 6 weeks on a Monday (or something similarly random, but consistent).

At the moment, we release when new features warrant it.  By releasing
periodically you impose a schedule where none is needed.  You also raise
the absurd possibility of a new release with no new features.

> Then it is clear that when the release manager says that a release is
> coming, you know when you must have had your code in, testing done and
> that a branch is imminent.

A release has been proposed, and we're having that discussion.  Rather
than saying "A release will be made on Date X and if your code isn't
ready, tough", I'm asking "When will your code be ready?"  This is a
far more sensible approach.

> Otherwise we get situations where there seems to be lots of discussions
> because some people believe we are ready and are in testing mode before
> a final release already and others think we are at the start of a
> release cycle and new stuff can still be added and additional testing
> needs to be done afterwards.

We're discussing it now.  This is the notice that a release is proposed.

Let's get concrete.  As far as I know the trunk is almost in a state where a
release branch can be made.

Who has work that they want to get in the next release?  When can it
be readied?

Andrew.