[m-dev.] feature freeze

[Fergus Henderson]

On 03-Oct-2002, Mark Brown <dougl at cs.mu.OZ.AU> wrote:
> On 01-Oct-2002, Fergus Henderson <fjh at cs.mu.OZ.AU> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > In preparation for the next release, I'd like to get some stability
> > on the main line of our CVS repository before we make a branch for
> > the release.  So I propose that we start a feature freeze.
> > That means only committing changes that fix bugs,
> > not changes that add new features.
> 
> When are you proposing that the freeze starts?

Now.

> I'd like to commit the
> change I posted last week to add the 'pd' command to the declarative
> debugger.  I'll do that soon unless there are any objections.

Well, since that one was posted a week ago, I guess that can slip in.
But please check that the test case passes in a large number of
different grades.  Also please use the tools/submit_patch script
to test it before committing.

> > The idea would be to keep the feature freeze in place for a couple of
> > weeks or so.
> 
> Presumably we will split a release branch off from the main branch, as
> we have done in previous releases.

Yes.

> If this is the case, do we really
> need a freeze period that long?  I can see that it would be useful to
> declare a moratorium on commits while the split takes place, just to
> make sure that there is no confusion about which commits come before the
> split and which come after, but this shouldn't really need to last
> longer than a few days to a week.  After the split, the release branch
> can have as much time as it needs to settle down.
> 
> My motivation for wanting a shorter freeze period is that I am currently
> testing a fairly major improvement to the declarative debugger, and I
> would like to commit it soon after the split takes place (provided the
> tests pass, of course).  I'd prefer, if possible, not to have to wait an
> extra couple of weeks or so for that to go ahead.

One motivation for a feature freeze the main branch is to encourage
developers to spend a bit of time working on fixing bugs, rather than
adding new features. 

I note that there are currently two unfixed declarative debugger test cases
(see the XXX in tests/debugger/declarative/Mmakefile).  How about you
work on fixing those while the feature freeze is in place?

-- 
Fergus Henderson <fjh at cs.mu.oz.au>  |  "I have always known that the pursuit
The University of Melbourne         |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>  |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.
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