Re: Release cycle length

Neil Conway writes:

> That said, I'm not really sure how we can make better use of the beta
> period. One obvious improvement would be making the beta announcements
> more visible: the obscurity of the beta process on www.postgresql.org
> for 7.4 was pretty ridiculous. Does anyone else have a suggestion on
> what we can do to produce a more reliable .0 release in less time?

Here are a couple of ideas:

0. As you say, make it known to the public. Have people test their
in-development applications using a beta.

1. Start platform testing on day 1 of beta. Last minute fixes for AIX or
UnixWare are really becoming old jokes.

2. Have a complete account of the changes available at the start of beta,
so people know what to test.

3. Use a bug-tracking system so that "open items" are known early and by
everyone.

4. Have a schedule. Not "We're looking at a release early in the later
part of this year.", but dates for steps such as feature freeze then,
proposals for open issues fielded then, string freeze then,
release candiate then.

5. If need be, have a release management team that manages 0-4.

--
Peter Eisentraut peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net