Feature Freeze Date for Next Release
Can I ask when the Feature Freeze for next release will be?
Last time we discussed this the only date mentioned was end-March-2008,
which is less than 2 months away now.
We've long expressed the wish to move development onto a cycle that ends
in the Spring, so next alternative would appear to be end-March-2009,
which is 14 months away now.
Both of those dates seem extreme to me, so something along the lines of
Sept 30 seems like a compromise - so 8 months away. That means we give
up trying to make a Spring freeze, but at least we'd be consistently
Dec/Jan, roughly as we have done for last 4 releases. It also means we
are able to take advantage of GSoC projects, if appropriate.
I'm of course happy to go with any date Core wishes, though I would like
it decided now-ish so we can plan the developments we can make for the
next release. We're increasingly in a position where personal time needs
to be booked, projects accepted or rejected, funding sought, server time
booked. Almost every major contributor has a commercial interest and
planning that contribution is important. Non-commercial contributors
similarly need to plan their potential contributions around life, exams,
contract end dates. Some users also want to plan whether they will
upgrade to 8.3 now or wait, in the case of a very short 8.4, whereas if
it is a long way off, they will upgrade now.
We also spoke about interim syncpoints, possibly quarterly, as a way of
reducing the post-freeze interregnum.
Insha'Allah,
--
Simon Riggs
2ndQuadrant http://www.2ndQuadrant.com
On Feb 5, 2008 8:57 PM, Simon Riggs <simon@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
Can I ask when the Feature Freeze for next release will be?
I shall be posting on this topic in the next day or so.
/D
Wouldn't seeing which patches are trickling in during the first months
of 8.4 development give a better indication of when it should be
freezable? I'm all in favor of having lots of advance notice and
predictable schedules --- but it seems in the next month or so we'll
have a lot more insight of whether 8.4'll be getting big features or
little ones based on what work-in-progress patches start coming.
Simon Riggs wrote:
Can I ask when the Feature Freeze for next release will be?
This gives me flashbacks to this earlier thread:
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-09/msg01979.php
Simon Riggs in 2006 wrote:
David Page wrote:
Following the recent discussion on this list and another on pgsql-core,
we have decided that we would like to aim to meet the following schedule
for the release of PostgreSQL 8.3:April 1st 2007 - Feature freeze
June 1st 2007 - ReleaseI'm very happy to have clearly stated dates. That means we can all plan
what we'll be able to achieve in that time, which is important when some
of the largest or most complex features are being considered.
Quoting Simon in 2008 again:
We've long expressed the wish to move development onto a cycle that ends
in the Spring, so next alternative would appear to be end-March-2009,
which is 14 months away now.
In light of the 2006 thread, I'd say April First like the previous
thread would be better than End-March for those with a sense of irony.
Simon Riggs wrote:
Can I ask when the Feature Freeze for next release will be?
Also, from http://www.postgresql.org/about/press/faq
"Q: When will 8.4 come out?
A: Historically, PostgreSQL has released approximately
every 12 months and there is no desire in the community
to change from that pattern. So expect 8.4 sometime in
the fourth quarter of 2008."
So you can count back from then to guess a freeze.
On Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:56:48 -0800
Ron Mayer <rm_pg@cheapcomplexdevices.com> wrote:
Simon Riggs wrote:
Can I ask when the Feature Freeze for next release will be?
Also, from http://www.postgresql.org/about/press/faq
"Q: When will 8.4 come out?
A: Historically, PostgreSQL has released approximately
every 12 months and there is no desire in the community
to change from that pattern. So expect 8.4 sometime in
the fourth quarter of 2008."So you can count back from then to guess a freeze.
Until Dave sends the email, all balls are in the air.
Joshua D. Drake
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Ron Mayer <rm_pg@cheapcomplexdevices.com> writes:
Simon Riggs wrote:
Can I ask when the Feature Freeze for next release will be?
Also, from http://www.postgresql.org/about/press/faq
"Q: When will 8.4 come out?
A: Historically, PostgreSQL has released approximately
every 12 months and there is no desire in the community
to change from that pattern. So expect 8.4 sometime in
the fourth quarter of 2008."
I think that text failed to get updated since last fall :-(
At this point, 12 months would be counted from 4 Feb 2008, so
something like first-quarter-2009 seems more likely.
The core committee is currently working on a proposal to make to
pgsql-hackers about how to schedule and manage the 8.4 development cycle
--- I think it's obvious to everyone that 8.3 did not go the way we
wanted, so something's got to be done to avoid a repeat of that fiasco.
Expect something about this in the next day or so.regards, tom lane