Re: Planning releases

[Joe Shaw <joe helixcode com>]

> I don't know if the board would decide release plans. This is almost
> certainly _the_ big decision that GNOME ever has to make; historically
> it's a big gnome-hackers flamewar, and it's a point of much contention
> in the steering committee too.

Yeah, the gnome-hackers flamage sucks, and I've heard that the steering
committee isn't much better. :)

> This is also an area where companies are strongly biased.

Yes, this is what I mainly meant in one of my previous messages. 

> Technical requirements are not going to delay a release 2 years; GNOME
> isn't that complex. But politics might.

And we can't ignore political facets. We all have our own schedules, and
we need to work together to find the best solution. If we need to delay a
release a month or so for an important core component, then okay. But if
it's two months, then we might have to release without it. If it looks
like six months, then we do a minor release now and then a bigger one in
six months. It's going to cause flamage no matter how you do it, but
it needs to be done, and I think a smaller body of individuals will be
better off than having someone magically become release coordinator during
a gnome-hackers flamewar and doing most of the work himself. Besides, once
it has been decided to do a release, everyone pretty much comes around
anyway.

> So, we should have a clear statement in our bylaws or whatever about
> how we make release decisions. (And it would be nice if the
> decision-making process was a good one.)

Maybe we should have a seperate entity to decide release schedules?

> I imagine the board would be much less controversial if it only did
> the things I mentioned in my previous mail (contact with companies,
> advocacy, money, etc.) and ignored releases. Maybe we should consider
> that. I'm not sure.

Okay, I have no problem with that, as long as we can establish a body that
can do releases. Any other way we can do it will be better than our
current "solution." And now that I think about it a little more, you're
right, the board should probably only deal with companies, advocacy,
etc. The new release committee should have the say, though, as to what
packages are included in the "official" GNOME release (which is pretty
intuitive, I hope).

Thanks,
Joe