Re: [Xen-devel] Xen release cycle revisited

[George Dunlap <george.dunlap@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 12/19/2017 10:42 AM, Steven Haigh wrote:
> On Tuesday, 19 December 2017 7:47:14 PM AEDT Jan Beulich wrote:
>>>>> On 19.12.17 at 07:58, <jgross@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> My proposal addresses the 4.10 experience. I see the following
>>> alternatives (assuming we want to keep the two releases per year
>>> scheme):
>>>
>>> 1. Leave everything as is
>>>
>>>    Pro: seems to work for the June release
>>>    Con: release date for the December release is risky
>>>
>>> 2. Move releases one month earlier, freeze dates as well (my proposal)
>>>
>>>    Pro: more time for release at end of the year
>>>    Con: freeze date end of February at end of Chinese New Year holidays
>>>    
>>>         in some years (2018 not applicable, as we would move that
>>>         release by 2 weeks only, so next time this will really hit us
>>>         will be 2026, maybe a little bit in 2021)
>>>
>>> 3. Move releases one month earlier, freeze dates before holidays
>>>
>>>    Pro: developers won't have to let feature slip due to holiday
>>>    Con: shorter development time for _all_ developers
>>>
>>> 4. Keep the June release like today, move the December release 2 or 4
>>>
>>>    weeks earlier
>>>    Pro: all Pros of 1-3
>>>    Con: every second release will have shorter development cycle
>>
>> 5. Go to a yearly release cycle, with June as expected release date.
>> At the risk of (still) being the only one to dislike the 6-month cycle,
>> I have to say that there, at the moment, being 4 actively maintained
>> stable branches and 6 security maintained ones is - just like I did
>> anticipate back when we discussed the shortening of the cycle - a
>> significant burden. And we haven't even reached the point yet
>> where all security maintained branches are from the 6-month cycle.
> 
> I've gotta agree here - I've already been skipping releases to keep up. 4.8 
> was a complete non-starter for me, and 4.10 might be the same. Its exhausting.

FWIW the CentOS Virt SIG had already decided to only consider updating
every other release, back when the release cadence was 9 months (leaving
a year and a half between upgrades).

But of course, that's in part  because CentOS is meant to be "stodgy and
reliable".  Fedora and Ubuntu, for instance, have 6-month release
cycles.  It looks like Ubuntu 17.10 has Xen 4.9 in it; and there's no
reason to think Ubuntu 18.04 LTS won't have 4.10 in it.

Steven, when I glanced at your site it looked like you're actively
supporting all versions of Xen you've ever released -- is that right?
If so it's a lot more work than I think anyone else is doing. :-)

 -George

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