Re: starting with 2.7

[Paul Rolland]

Hello,

> > In practice, that's all the -rc releases are these days 
> anyway (there
> > are times when a 2.6.x-rcy release is more stable than 2.6.z).  The
> > problem is that since the -rc releases are called what they are
> > called, they don't get enough testing.
> 
> Perfectly true. I would add that with -rc releases, people 
> only upgrade when
> we tell them that they can, while with more frequent 
> releases, they upgrade
> when they *need* to, and can try several versions if the 
> first one they pick
> does not work.
> 

I'd like to add some personal view : After 2.4.x, we have had a fork and
2.5.x was born, clearly identified as a development tree, so no stability
guaranteed... Then one day came 2.6.0, and so on...
I'm sorry, but I still cannot consider 2.6.x being any stable the way 2.4.x
is today.

Theodore wrote :
> that at least 1 in 3 releases will turn out to be stable enough for
> most purposes.  But we won't know until after 2 or 3 days which
> releases will be the good ones.

I mostly agree. When a new 2.4.x comes out, I have a confident feeling
about it, and there is no reason for me to wait 2 or 3 days to know if 
it's stable or not. It's part of a stable branch, and there are no
major changes in it.
2.6.x, I still consider as a development branch. OK, people changed the
numbering from 2.5.x to 2.6.x, but the number of changes still going on
didn't really change. Just have a look at the numbers : patches are even
bigger now that we are in a "stable" branch (4Mo average for 2.6 patch, 
gzip when we had a 1Mo average for 2.5 !)

Yes, it is a wonderful playground. So let's keep it a playground, let
number it 2.5.x again, and play with. Or let it be a stable branch,
and do something for people needing a playground.

Paul

PS : on my personal computer, I'm a player, so I'm running 2.6.x, but don't
expect me to put that on a production server for long... No way, not yet,
not as long as the decision on what *really* is 2.6.x is clear.

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