Re: GCC 3.5 Status (2004-08-29)

[Mark Mitchell <mark@codesourcery.com>]

Gabriel Dos Reis wrote:

>Mark Mitchell <mark@codesourcery.com> writes:
>
>| Gabriel Dos Reis wrote:
>| 
>| >Mark Mitchell <mark@codesourcery.com> writes:
>| >
>| >| Gabriel Dos Reis wrote:
>| > | | >Making regular bug-fix releases at regularly spaced times makes
>| > good
>| >| >sense to me.  What I'm unclear about is what we want for the *major*
>| >| >releases.  Do we just want them every 6 months?  Do we drive it by
>| >| >quality?  If by quality, what are the quality criteria?  I suspect
>| >| >
>| >| We cannot drive it purely by quality, since we will never get quality
>| >| unless we decide that we're going to make a release.  The level of
>| >| bug-fixing activity goes up steeply as we approach a release: people
>| >| start to fear that "their" platform/language/etc. will not work well.
>| >| That's why we use a combination: drive by time, and then push for
>| >| quality towards that date.
>| > | | >| they can lead to lower quality, as more and more changes go
>| > in,
>| >| >| sometimes without corresponding problem-solving efforts.  I also don't
>| >| >| think that "wait until it is ready" is a practical method for a
>| >| >| project this big with this much change and with so much
>| >| >| inter-dependency between components.
>| >| >
>| >| >Again, I agree.  However, because the project is that big, I believe
>| >| >branching  proposals should meet consensus among developers.
>| >| >
>| >| In contrast, I don't see consensus as achievable in this group.  We
>| >
>| >That says a lot.
>| >
>| Note that I didn't say "cooperation"; I said "consensus", which means
>| that everyone agrees.
>
>No.  "everyone agrees" means "unanimity", and I consciously avoided
>that term.
>  
>
Well, since I didn't know what the word meant, then you shouldn't read 
too much into what I said. :-)

But I do think that our key stakeholders have very divergent 
objectives.  At the GCC summit, one person I respect told me we should 
do releases every two weeks; another I respect equally much recommended 
once a year.  I try to balance all the opinions to come up with a 
reasonable plan; to me, that's the "M" in "RM".  Unless the SC tells me 
otherwise, of course.

-- 
Mark Mitchell
CodeSourcery, LLC
(916) 791-8304
mark@codesourcery.com