Discussion about 4.1 timeframe (was Re: What to do about Kompare?)

[Mauricio Piacentini]

 > > I'm not. :P You get basically two months to develop and add new
 > > features and that's quite crazy. If we do this, you once again leave
 > > out KDevelop and kdewebdev from the release because i don't think
 > > those are going to be ready in 3-4 months. You also leave out a
 > > significantly better version of Kopete since all the new stuff we
 > > want to do for that (which is currently planned for 4.1) won't get
 > > done either.

 >I'm with Matt here, the same applies to kompare as I doubt everything
 >thats needed can be done in just two months (also looking at the fact
 >that I won't have much time for hacking myself until may).

Well, I think that *AFTER* 4.0 it is wrong to continue doing 
feature-based releases, and we could experiment a bit with 
schedule-driven ones. If it is 3 or 4 or 6 or 8 months it is open for 
discussion. But the basic idea is: whenever 4.1 is scheduled for, if a 
game, or a new Kopete feature, or KDevelop is not ready, then it sits 
out, and waits for the next round. Simple, easy. People continue to use 
the existing versions. No loss. Less pressure as well for the developer imo.

But if we delay everything because one developer or group will not be 
able to complete a given feature, then we start penalizing everyone. In 
this example, to be concrete: if we release 4.1 only in August then I 
doubt we will be able to keep momentum on the games and perhaps the edu 
teams as well. We have lots of new stuff waiting on the sidelines: Step 
for example is wonderful. In games there are several waiting, some for 
years, like Ksirk. Plasma will probably mature very quickly in 2-3 
months following 4.0, I guess, and lots of plasmoids would be ready. KDE 
4.0 is a platform release, we need to follow up with incremental 
upgrades relatively soon imo. If something is not ready, ok! No penalty, 
nothing is lost. Wait for the next release. But do not hold the gates 
for things that are ready to be in.

The point is that some applications are ALREADY waiting for inclusion 
since July/07! That is why I think a release in April makes sense, it 
would have been 9 months after the last chance for inclusion. But it 
could be in May as well: starting NOW, it would give us at least 3 
months for development of these new features. If something can not be 
done in 3 months, it is doubtful that it would be ready in 4 or 5, at 
least in the open source world, right?
After 4.1, we should probably experiment with the 6 month release 
schedule that seems to be working for other projects, if we decide that 
it fits our needs.

A disclaimer: if this is going to waste energy, we can delay this 
discussion to January. The same applies to the Kompare issue: let us 
follow the path that generates less stress for now, and move on to this 
4.0 release.

Regards,
Mauricio Piacentini