Beta Release Notes

[Jonathan Roberts]

OK all,

I've copied the content from the Alpha Release Notes to
/wiki/Releases/9/Beta/ReleaseNotes so that we can begin updating it
for the Beta release.

I think this is the most straight forward method for now, so if
anybody is interested in helping if we simply follow the format that
is there but update the information about the features already listed
and add information for features that weren't in Alpha I think we'll
be in good shape :)

Best wishes,

Jon

[Jonathan Roberts]

Anybody able to give me a definition of exactly what the beta release
is!? i.e. feature complete? targeted at which set of users?!

Or if somebody could point me in the right direction..

Jon

[Rahul Sundaram]

Jonathan Roberts wrote:
>  Anybody able to give me a definition of exactly what the beta
> release
>  is!? i.e. feature complete? targeted at which set of users?!
>  
>  Or if somebody could point me in the right direction.. 
Refer

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/9/Schedule
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/Schedule

Beta is feature freeze and string freeze. Alpha is targeted for 
developers. Beta for early adopters and Release Candidate for full 
community participation.

Rahul

[Jesse Keating]

On Sat, 1 Mar 2008 12:04:26 +0000
"Jonathan Roberts" <jonathan.roberts.uk(a)googlemail.com&gt; wrote:

>  Anybody able to give me a definition of exactly what the beta
> release
>  is!? i.e. feature complete? targeted at which set of users?!
>  
>  Or if somebody could point me in the right direction.. 
Beta release is when we freeze development to stabilize the tree in
order to have an installable package set.  All approved Fedora features
should be in a 'testable' state, that is ready for users to discover
functions, issues, and bugs.  It also marks the time at which we will
no longer accept new Feature requests, nor allow any significant string
changes in the software we do translations for.

-- 
Jesse Keating RHCE      (jkeating.livejournal.com)
Fedora Project          (fedoraproject.org/wiki/JesseKeating)
GPG Public Key          (geek.j2solutions.net/jkeating.j2solutions.pub)

[Marc Wiriadisastra]

Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>  Jonathan Roberts wrote:
> > Anybody able to give me a definition of exactly what the beta release
> > is!? i.e. feature complete? targeted at which set of users?!
> >
> > Or if somebody could point me in the right direction..
>
>  Refer
>
>  http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/9/Schedule
>  http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/Schedule
>
>  Beta is feature freeze and string freeze. Alpha is targeted for 
>  developers. Beta for early adopters and Release Candidate for full 
>  community participation.
>
>  Rahul
>  
So whats going on with the single source summary then does that get 
replaced with the beta release notes?

Cheers,

Marc

[Jonathan Roberts]

On 01/03/2008, Marc Wiriadisastra <marc(a)mwiriadi.id.au&gt; wrote:
>  Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>   > Jonathan Roberts wrote:
>   >> Anybody able to give me a definition of exactly what the beta release
>   >> is!? i.e. feature complete? targeted at which set of users?!
>   >>
>   >> Or if somebody could point me in the right direction..
>   >
>   > Refer
>   >
>   > http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/9/Schedule
>   > http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/Schedule
>   >
>   > Beta is feature freeze and string freeze. Alpha is targeted for
>   > developers. Beta for early adopters and Release Candidate for full
>   > community participation.
>   >
>   > Rahul
>   >
>
>
>  So whats going on with the single source summary then does that get
>   replaced with the beta release notes? 
I think so for now Marc...got my head in a big spin with the
SingleSourceSummary! Not sure anybody totally understands it actually,
though perhaps Karsten does and when he returns things may look
rosier. For now though, feel free to move content from SSS or add
stuff to the Release Notes :)

Best wishes,

Jon

Single sourced summary (was Re: Beta Release Notes)

[Karsten Wade]

On Mon, 2008-03-03 at 19:50 +0000, Jonathan Roberts wrote:
>  On 01/03/2008, Marc Wiriadisastra <marc(a)mwiriadi.id.au&gt; wrote:
>  >
>  > So whats going on with the single source summary then does that get
>  >  replaced with the beta release notes? 
The Alpha/Beta release notes (single wiki page) are a subset of the
SingleSourceSummary.

>  I think so for now Marc...got my head in a big spin with the
>  SingleSourceSummary! Not sure anybody totally understands it actually,
>  though perhaps Karsten does and when he returns things may look
>  rosier. For now though, feel free to move content from SSS or add
>  stuff to the Release Notes :) 
FWIW, Paul may also understand it, so we have being-hit-by-a-bus
protection.

Does this explanation work? ::

Problem -- multiple summaries (relnotes, press releases, wiki pages,
announcements, blog entries, articles) being written for a given release
(Alpha, Beta, RC, Gold), all repeating work; no clear place to go for a
good _summary_ of a given release.

Solution -- one single page that contains all the _potential_ content
(source) for any one of the given target summaries.  Call this the
SingleSourceSummary (SSS).

What the SSS is not -- 

        It is not a page meant to be read of itself:  two sections may
        contain nearly identical content but be written in two styles,
        such as "Big and happy!" and "Terse and descriptive".
        
        It does not require a consistent writing style for sections:
        see above examples
        
        Stable:  expect it to change constantly; don't use it with an
        Include() macro but copy/fork
        
What the SSS is --

        A resource for *anyone* writing about a given Fedora release
        
        A collaboration amongst various parts of Fedora -- Marketing,
        Docs, Rel Eng, etc.

-- 
Karsten Wade, Developer Community Mgr.
Dev Fu : http://developer.redhatmagazine.com
Fedora : http://quaid.fedorapeople.org
gpg key : AD0E0C41

Single sourced summary (was Re: Beta Release Notes)

[Paul W. Frields]

On Tue, 2008-03-04 at 17:22 -0800, Karsten 'quaid' Wade wrote:
>  On Mon, 2008-03-03 at 19:50 +0000, Jonathan Roberts wrote:
>  > On 01/03/2008, Marc Wiriadisastra <marc(a)mwiriadi.id.au&gt; wrote:
>  > >
>  > > So whats going on with the single source summary then does that get
>  > >  replaced with the beta release notes?
>  
>  The Alpha/Beta release notes (single wiki page) are a subset of the
>  SingleSourceSummary.
>  
>  > I think so for now Marc...got my head in a big spin with the
>  > SingleSourceSummary! Not sure anybody totally understands it actually,
>  > though perhaps Karsten does and when he returns things may look
>  > rosier. For now though, feel free to move content from SSS or add
>  > stuff to the Release Notes :)
>  
>  FWIW, Paul may also understand it, so we have being-hit-by-a-bus
>  protection.
>  
>  Does this explanation work? ::
>  
>  Problem -- multiple summaries (relnotes, press releases, wiki pages,
>  announcements, blog entries, articles) being written for a given release
>  (Alpha, Beta, RC, Gold), all repeating work; no clear place to go for a
>  good _summary_ of a given release.
>  
>  Solution -- one single page that contains all the _potential_ content
>  (source) for any one of the given target summaries.  Call this the
>  SingleSourceSummary (SSS).
>  
>  What the SSS is not -- 
>  
>          It is not a page meant to be read of itself:  two sections may
>          contain nearly identical content but be written in two styles,
>          such as "Big and happy!" and "Terse and descriptive".
>          
>          It does not require a consistent writing style for sections:
>          see above examples
>          
>          Stable:  expect it to change constantly; don't use it with an
>          Include() macro but copy/fork 
This last item is where you lose me, but then again, I'm easily lost (as
anyone who's ridden in my car knows).  One of the goals of a SSS -- I
thought -- was to allow us to include the content elsewhere multiple
times, and not have to repeatedly check multiple pages to see that
they'd all been changed uniformly.  This was a big problem in the last
Release Notes cycle where a contributor made a change to one source
document, and I (as one of the release notes editors) had to carry that
change, and fix the resulting translation POT material, in several
documents.
        
>  What the SSS is --
>  
>          A resource for *anyone* writing about a given Fedora release
>          
>          A collaboration amongst various parts of Fedora -- Marketing,
>          Docs, Rel Eng, etc. 
+1 on this though.  I wonder whether it bears mentioning that a SSS is a
great place for interviewees to go for talking points.

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
  irc.freenode.net: stickster @ #fedora-docs, #fedora-devel, #fredlug

Single sourced summary (was Re: Beta Release Notes)

[Karsten Wade]

On Thu, 2008-03-06 at 22:00 +0000, Paul W. Frields wrote:
>  On Tue, 2008-03-04 at 17:22 -0800, Karsten 'quaid' Wade
> wrote: 
>  > What the SSS is not --  
...
        
>  >         Stable:  expect it to change constantly; don't use
> it with an
>  >         Include() macro but copy/fork
>  
>  This last item is where you lose me, but then again, I'm easily lost (as
>  anyone who's ridden in my car knows).  One of the goals of a SSS -- I
>  thought -- was to allow us to include the content elsewhere multiple
>  times, and not have to repeatedly check multiple pages to see that
>  they'd all been changed uniformly.  This was a big problem in the last
>  Release Notes cycle where a contributor made a change to one source
>  document, and I (as one of the release notes editors) had to carry that
>  change, and fix the resulting translation POT material, in several
>  documents. 
Maybe I was a bit overboard with that description.  Maybe it's more
that, unlike other parts that we Include(), this one is apt to change
during the release cycle.  Don't stick it in and forget to occasionally
re-read -- to make sure your lead-in makes sense, the formatting is
sane, that it doesn't now have information that you covered in another
part of the page that uses the Include() macro, etc.

So instead:

The SSS is not:

        Overly stable:  expect it to change throughout the release
        cycle, so if you Include() it, make sure to check that the
        meaning/format still works where you included it.

???

- Karsten
-- 
Karsten Wade, Developer Community Mgr.
Dev Fu : http://developer.redhatmagazine.com
Fedora : http://quaid.fedorapeople.org
gpg key : AD0E0C41

Single sourced summary (was Re: Beta Release Notes)

[Paul W. Frields]

On Sat, 2008-03-08 at 14:47 -0800, Karsten 'quaid' Wade wrote:
>  On Thu, 2008-03-06 at 22:00 +0000, Paul W. Frields wrote:
>  > On Tue, 2008-03-04 at 17:22 -0800, Karsten 'quaid' Wade wrote:
>  
>  > > What the SSS is not -- 
>  
>  ...
>          
>  > >         Stable:  expect it to change constantly; don't use it with an
>  > >         Include() macro but copy/fork
>  > 
>  > This last item is where you lose me, but then again, I'm easily lost (as
>  > anyone who's ridden in my car knows).  One of the goals of a SSS -- I
>  > thought -- was to allow us to include the content elsewhere multiple
>  > times, and not have to repeatedly check multiple pages to see that
>  > they'd all been changed uniformly.  This was a big problem in the last
>  > Release Notes cycle where a contributor made a change to one source
>  > document, and I (as one of the release notes editors) had to carry that
>  > change, and fix the resulting translation POT material, in several
>  > documents.
>  
>  Maybe I was a bit overboard with that description.  Maybe it's more
>  that, unlike other parts that we Include(), this one is apt to change
>  during the release cycle.  Don't stick it in and forget to occasionally
>  re-read -- to make sure your lead-in makes sense, the formatting is
>  sane, that it doesn't now have information that you covered in another
>  part of the page that uses the Include() macro, etc.
>  
>  So instead:
>  
>  The SSS is not:
>  
>          Overly stable:  expect it to change throughout the release
>          cycle, so if you Include() it, make sure to check that the
>          meaning/format still works where you included it.
>  
>  ??? 
That makes more sense to me, FWIW.

-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
  irc.freenode.net: stickster @ #fedora-docs, #fedora-devel, #fredlug