Long term support release for Plasma?

[Martin Steigerwald]

Am Montag, 27. Juni 2016, 14:28:42 CEST schrieb Martin Graesslin:
> Hi distributions,

Hi Martin.

> in Plasma we are considering to add a long term support release. For this
> idea we want to get some feedback from your side to know how we should set
> this up.

Thank you for considering an LTS release.

After checking back with Maxy from the Debian/Kubuntu Qt/KDE team I answer 
this, so this is semi-official for Debian: 

> Here is an example (I mean it!) for how this could look like:
> * 5.8 first LTS release based on Qt 5.6 (which is also an LTS) for X11
> * every fourth release will be another LTS release, so with the 3 month
> cycle there is one LTS per year - 5.8, 5.12, 5.16
> * Support is for five release cycles, so with 5.13 the 5.8 LTS goes EOL,
> with 5.17 the 5.12 release goes EOL
> * bug fix release continue in the Fibonacci schedule till the EOL release
> 
> We would like to know from you:

> * is that something which is useful to you?

Yes, it is. But 5.8 as first LTS release likely is too late for Debian 
Stretch. The team didn´t yet recide whether to do an backport of 5.8 for 
stretch. I think it would be the first major KDE related backport in Debian´s 
history. And it would require backporting many packages due to the modular 
nature of your software. 

Maybe at least some fixes for 5.8 can easily be backported to 5.7, so a 5.8 
LTS may still help.

> * how often should we do an LTS release?

Once a year sounds okay. The Debian release schedule is about every 2-3 years.

> * how often should we do bug fix releases for an LTS?

Depends on severity of issue. Its good to receive timely security fixes.

> * how long should a LTS be supported?

Ideally about 2-3 years at least.


> Related to that:
> * what to do with frameworks?

Also provide an LTS release for the frameworks version that works best with a 
certain Plasma LTS.

> * Would you freeze the frameworks version or continue to backport newer
> framework versions to your distribution?

Freeze.

> * Would you want an LTS branch for frameworks as well?

Yes.

> * What would you expect that to look like?

An LTS for the Frameworks version an specific Plasma LTS is initially used 
with it.

Thanks,
-- 
Martin