Proposed IcedTea 6 release

[Mark Wielaard]

Hi Andrew,

On Mon, 2009-08-10 at 10:31 +0100, Andrew Haley wrote:
> > 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.

I think you are mistaken, these recurring "release now?" discussions
seem to show a more regular periodic release schedule would make the
whole process go more smoothly.

>   You also raise
> the absurd possibility of a new release with no new features.

I think that is a fear that isn't very likely. We make improvements, bug
fixes, adding features all the time. Even if there are no "major" new
features having regular update releases with "just" feature improvements
and bug fixes would be really good. IMHO.

> > 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.

I thought the question was more "everybody ready for a release now?" Not
about whether or not some new code would be ready in some future.

> 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?

OK, agreed.

I believe the following additions are in, tested and ready for release:
- Plugin and netx improvements (largely complete 1.5/6.0 jnlp spec
  support, cookie support rewrite, and numerous other stability and bug
  fixes)
- security updates.
- systemtap java method entry/exit tracing.
- updated hotspot (hs14b16)
- updates to shark for newer LLVM api interface changes.
- Build fixes and general bug fixes (execvpe, cacao, gcc 4.4, 
- Cleaned up configure support for --with-openjdk and
  --with-additional-vms

Not ready yet? but would definitely be nice:
- sync with oj6, unknown when/if it can be updated, but icedtea6 already
  contains the important bits missing from current oj6 (security
  updates, updated hotspot).
- new arm stuff.
- new Xorg header updates (currently not certain how to detect, distros
  patch themselves).

Cheers,

Mark