From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Sep 17 21:52:40 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EE31D1065671 for ; Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:52:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jrhett@netconsonance.com) Received: from mail.netconsonance.com (mail.netconsonance.com [198.207.204.4]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CEFA88FC0A for ; Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:52:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jrhett@netconsonance.com) Received: from [10.66.240.106] (public-wireless.sv.svcolo.com [64.13.135.30]) (authenticated bits=0) by mail.netconsonance.com (8.14.1/8.14.1) with ESMTP id m8HLpgL5002099; Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:51:42 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jrhett@netconsonance.com) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at netconsonance.com X-Spam-Flag: NO X-Spam-Score: -1.011 X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.011 tagged_above=-999 required=3.5 tests=[ALL_TRUSTED=-1.44, AWL=0.429] Message-Id: <78BA6D76-2667-44B3-BF21-0B940D3C6E13@netconsonance.com> From: Jo Rhett To: Mark Linimon In-Reply-To: <20080916065657.GB12295@soaustin.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v928.1) Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:51:36 -0700 References: <1219409496.10487.22.camel@bauer.cse.buffalo.edu> <593618A3-56DA-4891-A4A0-690E9A9C5B32@netconsonance.com> <20080904133604.GB1188@atarininja.org> <47d0403c0809051319r3c82f87bhdb15ce5b0167987a@mail.gmail.com> <2742CAB1-8FF2-425D-A3B6-0658D7DB8F4D@netconsonance.com> <48CF5282.10608@modulus.org> <20080916065657.GB12295@soaustin.net> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.928.1) Cc: freebsd-stable , Andrew Snow Subject: Re: Upcoming Releases Schedule... X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:52:41 -0000 > On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 04:30:26PM +1000, Andrew Snow wrote: >> I think FreeBSD is getting in a difficult position now because >> there's >> so much cool new stuff being shoe-horned in, but without the >> necessary >> volume of contributors to back it up with testing and bug fixes. On Sep 15, 2008, at 11:56 PM, Mark Linimon wrote: > We're interested in suggestions about how to get more people involved > with testing and bug fixes. > > There's certainly no lack of demand for the features -- all the way > from > running on inexpensive wireless routers all the way up to 'enterprise- > grade' distributed storage solutions. (These are real examples from > various mailing lists.) > > So, in your opinion, what's the way to reconcile all these demands > (features + stability + long-term support of release branches) with > a group that is 95%-plus volunteer effort? As I have said to you directly in personal e-mail, the maintenance schedule is creating a chicken and egg problem. If companies weren't forced to run internal distribution and release management on their own, they could allocate more resources (ie volunteers -- PAID ones!) to testing and release management of the main distribution. To speak personally from my own experience: our business can not afford to pay me to help develop a release effort with an unknown maintenance period (6.4-REL). Since we need to have a clear maintenance window for any installed/upgraded host, we are forced to provide that support internally. If we had known (and longer than 12 month) maintenance periods for a given release, then I could avoid maintaining this infrastructure internally and would have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 hours a month I could dedicate to testing and bug fixes of FreeBSD as a whole. -- Jo Rhett Net Consonance : consonant endings by net philanthropy, open source and other randomness