Re: Gtk+ and the freeze

[Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com>]

Sven Neumann <sven gimp org> writes:

> Hi,
> 
> Maciej Stachowiak <mjs noisehavoc org> writes:
> 
> > The GNOME 2.0 release team has decided to give the Gtk+ team a grace
> > period until the end of Saturday to get already planned API changes
> > in. This is in the interests of trying to get Gtk+ truly frozen as
> > fast as possible.
> 
> I always thought free software is ready when it is ready and not on
> Saturday because someone says so. Did I misinterpret something?

Well, free software is ready at some date because someone says
so, because it is _never_ fully ready ;-) But, yes, I think
what Maciej was trying to say here is:

 "The GNOME 2.0 release team discussed the API freeze with the GTK+ team 
  and they said they thought they would have it frozen by Saturday,
  and if they don't, we are going to glare at them and tap our
  feet impatiently"

> > After Saturday, we will expect Gtk+ (and glib and pango and atk) API
> > changes to go through the normal review process. We really need to get
> > the foundation of our platform fully ready for porting work.
> 
> What is the normal review process? Sorry, I don't read gnome-2-0-list
> or gnome-hackers, but I'm not sure if readers of gtk-devel-list are
> supposed to know what you mean by "normal review process". Is that the
> "send a patch to the list to get it discussed and approved" review
> process that is normally used for GTK+ and friends?

The review process for GTK+ and friends is in fact.

 - Send a patch to gtk-devel-list to get it discussed and approved
 - File it in bugzilla so we can track it

Recently, we've been including gnome-2-0-list on discussion of
incompatible changes to make sure people are aware of what is
going on, and to let them raise objections if the changes
cause problems for work on downstream packages and we'll certainly
continue to do so if emergencies come up requiring changes past
the upcoming API frozen release.

Regards,
                                        Owen