The case for a kdelibs 4.8

[Kevin Kofler]

PPS:

I wrote:
> However, working with you is only possible if you are also interested in
> working with us, which implies listening to our needs, concerns and
> wishes. By closing down the branch where our current development is
> necessarily focused on since that's what we will be shipping in the near
> future, you're already starting down the wrong road.

For a prime example of what happens if you close down the version 
distributions are actually shipping in favor of long-term development, just 
look at GRUB 1. Fedora's GRUB 0.97 package is now at patch level 75! And it 
has its own git repository, i.e. essentially a fork (grub-fedora on 
git.kernel.org, it's now down because all of git.kernel.org is currently 
down).

GRUB 2 is now finally becoming production-ready, and Fedora will be 
switching to it in Fedora 16, but it was nowhere near that state when 
upstream discontinued GRUB 1. GRUB 0.97 was released on May 8, 2005 (and 
IIRC that was only a bugfix release and they stopped accepting new features 
even earlier). Distributions have been forced to ship patched versions for 
over 6 years. (GRUB 0.97 as released doesn't support many needed features, 
e.g. ext4.) As a result, it has become a morass of all-different forked 
versions. You can't tell a priori what any given "GRUB 0.97" package 
actually supports.

Sure, focusing on the long term to some extent is needed, but we 
distributors need something we can ship NOW, not months or years from now.

        Kevin Kofler