Trying to install rawhide: madness and where do we hope to go ?

[Daniel Veillard]

On Wed, Sep 07, 2005 at 10:53:25AM -0400, Jeremy Katz wrote:
> > Delaying the release of FC5 raises the risk of
> > decoupling from our user base and people who test bleeding edge, with a
> > HEAD that is so hard to install and get running people who want to test
> > new stuff have an easier upgrade path by installing Ubuntu (and maybe
> > openSuse) than trying to get Rawhide going. I am afraid the current state
> > of Rawhide just means silent exodus of the people who really help building
> > the distro. The fact that the installer has been broken for months in my
> > experience is a very significant threat, and increase the risk associated
> > to delaying FC5 to an extend we didn't anticipated. 
> 
> Actually, we delayed FC5 partially so this work *COULD* happen.  The
> installer needs to be mostly working by the time test1 comes out.  And
> some of the changes just need more time than the usual 2.5 months
> between a release and test1.

  As was pointed out the longuer between releases, the more new bits 
being tested in parrallel during those tests releases and the harder to
stabilize.

> I do think that we want to consider having four test releases with the
> first one earlier than the current schedule.  That will help to avoid
> some of the problems you're afraid of.

  Instead of 9 month cooking it and then a succession of test releases
then release what about test release after each substancial change
  e.g.:
   FC5-test-kernel-2.6.13
   FC5-test-x.org-modularized

  i.e. instead of pushing everything back to the end, have snapshot test
releases, where some incremental testing gets done by the people not brave
enough to go though a real rawhide testing. They would not have to have the
same amount of testing than for final test release but would allow a larger
community feedback on what is likely to break on them. I do that myself at
a smaller scale when I push bits in my projects and I know there is a
possibility of breakage, it works fine if people get the information they
need to test something specific. We are already doing this to some extent
but involving just the specific packages update (kernel or modularized X11),
being able to quickly cook up a small downloadable test release may be useful
too.
  Would that increase the distro team work significantly ? I think it
would increase early feedback (good), maybe it could even be offloaded to
volunteers if the recipe to make and test basic releases is opened.

  2 cents, trying to bring something positive from an unlucky experience...

Daniel

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