Re: [Tails-dev] Tails 0.18 release schedule

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Author: Alan
Date:  
To: tails-dev
Subject: Re: [Tails-dev] Tails 0.18 release schedule
Hi,

On Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:11:34 +0200 intrigeri <intrigeri@???> wrote:
> Tails 0.18 will be a "major" release:
> it may bring more than bugfixes in.
>
> There are questions bellow for both developers and translators,
> so please read on.
>
> I'd like to experiment some variations on the theme of the release
> schedule we've agreed upon last year. The main goals are to make our
> release workload considerably lighter, and to have a release out ASAP
> after the Firefox ESR is announced.
>
> Here's the preliminary release schedule for Tails 0.18:
>
> 2013-05-03 freeze, build and upload Tails 0.18~rc1 ISO
> 2013-05-04 test Tails 0.18~rc1
> 2013-05-05 release Tails 0.18~rc1
>
> 2013-05-13 Firefox 17.0.6 ESR is out, let's package it
> 2013-05-14 build and upload Tails 0.18 ISO
> 2013-05-15 test Tails 0.18
> 2013-05-16 release Tails 0.18
>
> You probably want to add the two testing days (May 4th and 15th)
> to your agenda.
>
> So, what changes and why?
>
> 1. No RC2, release soon after Firefox ESR is out instead
> ========================================================
>
> Basically, the proposal I'm making is to turn our "usual" RC2 into the
> final release, more or less. No kidding. Crazy, uh?
>
> First, it's been quite rare that our RC2 helped to discover bugs that
> were worth fixing for the final release, and that we could safely fix
> during deep freeze. RC2 is IMHO less valuable than what I thought.
>
> Second, I'd like to shorten the time during which Tails users are
> vulnerable to know Firefox security issues.
>
> Third, I do hope that enough of our test suite will be automated, at
> the end of April, so that we can a. save some time between ESR is out
> and our release; b. focus developers' and testers' time on more
> creative real-world testing; c. spread our testing effort over
> less periods.
>
> So, my proposal would be that people who usually would have spent half
> a day running the manual test suite for RC2, and half a day running it
> again a week later for the final ISO, instead:
>
>   * seriously play with the RC1 between May 5th and May 14th
>   * on May 4th and May 15th: spend much less time than usual on manual
>     tests; instead, do some more creative testing (and list additional
>     tests that could be worth automating!)

>

OK, but... I don't think I will wand to spend all the time I usually
spend for the test suite on intelligent tests.

> I'm trying to think something through with the resources we usually
> have at release time, to start with, but anyone else is obviously
> welcome to participate!
>
> A downside of not having a RC2 is that translators can't see the
> result of their work in a live system. I'd like to know how
> translators feel about that.
>
> 2. Freeze a bit later
> =====================
>
> I've felt a few times that freezing only three weeks after a release
> gives little time for development. I find it a bit frustrating and
> limiting. So, I've postponed the 0.18 freeze as much as I could, while
> keeping the RC1 useful (9 days of testing).
>
> With this schedule, translators have a bit less time than the usual
> two weeks to do their job between May 3rd and May 14th. To mitigate
> this, I suggest that developers who have their feature ready and
> merged before the freeze date send their updated PO files to
> translators ASAP, so that the translation work is a bit less done in
> a rush between the RC1 and the release.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Cheers,


Seems me good.

Cheers