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Date:      Mon, 24 May 1999 23:50:18 -0700
From:      "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@zippy.cdrom.com>
To:        "David Schwartz" <davids@webmaster.com>
Cc:        "Mike Smith" <mike@smith.net.au>, freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: [Q] How stable is FreeBSD 3.X ? 
Message-ID:  <3386.927615018@zippy.cdrom.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 24 May 1999 23:28:00 PDT." <000001bea677$bc99d5f0$021d85d1@whenever.youwant.to> 

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> bit longer prior to actual release. More effort could be made to obtain
> wider testing for pre-RELEASEs. The RELEASE stream could be split off of
> STABLE earlier and allowed to stabilize without bouncing STABLE around with
> it.

"More effort" can always be made, but if you leave release scheduling
to pure conservatism then we release about once every other year; I've
been there and I know this from empirical evidence.

Every release, and I do mean *every* release, is an exercise in
compromise.  Go for perfection and 18 months will go by with people
screaming for it and your developers saying "sorry, not ready yet!
Ask again next month!" until all of you grow old.  Go for a 2 day
turn-around and Mistakes Will Be Made.  What we've found in our
current release schedule is about the best ratio between the two
extremes.  If you give people even more time by splitting early, do
you know what happens?  They move more slowly through a reduced sense
of urgency, you don't magically get a linear gain in productivity. :)

> 	I'm not saying any of these solution will work, but I am saying that he
> provided enough information to identify the problem class.

Identifying the problem class is not enough.  As I said before,
certain *minimum* standards must be met and a minimum is, indeed, a
minimum.  It's not even negotiable, I'm merely clarifying it for the
sake of other readers.

- Jordan


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