TARBALLS DUE: GNOME 2.23.90 beta 1 + we're freezing the UI + release notes are important! + this subject might be a bit too long

[Olav Vitters <olav bkor dhs org>]

Hello all,

This is getting a bit long in short:
- maintainers/developers must help with preparing the release notes
- UI freeze
- new APIs must be fully documented (already in affect)
- tarballs due


We're nearing the end of the 2.24 release cycle. It seems like we've
accomplished a few things. For one, I noticed that file-roller is pretty
awesome these days. Further, loads and loads of modules use GIO now.
Unfortunately a ldd $PROGRAM often still shows a gnome-vfs. It would be
really nice if that could be killed as well (I guess this means removing
libgnome/libgnomeui dependencies when possible).
But, other than above nothing really was done in 2.24. That is really
too bad...

If you disagree act now and check that http://live.gnome.org/RoadMap is
up to date (especially the planned stuff that didn't make it). Mention
the import bugfixes, the new features, the better usability, the speed
increases or lower memory usage. In case of new features please also
mention how the release notes person (and all the translators) are able
to find/activate the feature.
Further, although that page has a lot of oneliners, the people (help
wanted as it usually is just one person who we force to write the whole
thing!) creating the release notes would really like a longer text as
well.. meaning the stuff that ends up as a blogpost on planet.gnome.org.

A lot of sites (especially non-English ones) use the release notes to
determine if the GNOME version rocks or not. So pretty please: ensure
the release notes accurately reflects the progress.
Further, this needs to happen *now* as creating good release notes is
hard. Plus, translators need something more than a few days to be able
to fully translate it.

--> I still recall the feedback of some popular Dutch site when the
release notes were very short. In short: very negative. Although various
things were changed during that GNOME cycle, people did not notice and
they fully relied on the release notes to tell them where to look. I
do not try every option in file-roller every time, I don't expect ctrl-t
to do anything at all in Nautilus... especially if that would say
require 'Browser mode'. A lot of users do not refresh planet gnome 50
times a day while waiting for a new mail to arrive from one of the 50
subscribed GNOME mailing lists.

Anyway, that is my rambling regarding the release notes.


On to other stuff. We didn't announce that the APis must be fully
documented. So if you used that as an excuse not to document them: do so
now please.


We're also starting the UI freeze. Which means that if people want you
to fix some bug you don't want to fix, you can now easily say that the
crash fix requires an UI change.


Tarballs are due on 2008-08-18 before 23:59 UTC for the GNOME 2.23.90
beta release, which will be delivered on Wednesday. Modules which were
proposed for inclusion should try to follow the unstable schedule so
everyone can test them.  Please make sure that your tarballs will be
uploaded before Monday 23:59 UTC: tarballs uploaded later than that
will probably be too late to get in 2.23.90. If you are not able to
make a tarball before this deadline or if you think you'll be late,
please send a mail to the release team and we'll find someone to roll
the tarball for you!


No UI changes may be made at all without confirmation from the release
team and notification to the documentation team.


For more information about 2.23, the full schedule, the official
module lists and the proposed module lists, please see our colorful 2.23
page:
   http://www.gnome.org/start/unstable

For a quick overview of the GNOME schedule, please see:
   http://live.gnome.org/Schedule

Thanks,


-- 
PS: WARNING: Following a certain suggestion in this email might result
in a 'wtf are you using' reaction. Do read the whole email to find that
suggestion... :)