Are We Ready? Beta1 vs. Alpha3

[Allen Winter]

On Saturday 21 July 2007 2:51:51 pm Rex Dieter wrote:
> Allen Winter wrote:
> > No, I don't think we are ready for a beta release and the API + Feature Freeze
> > that goes with a beta release.
> > I think we should tag an Alpha3 on 25 July and extend our freeze dates
> > forward another month.
> > Then try again for a Beta1 on 25 Aug.
> > This probably means delaying KDE 4.0 for at least 1 month, ie. 23 Nov.
> >   
> For anyone who missed Mark Shuttleworth's akademy talk... he stressed 
> the absolute importance of regular, reliable release cycles.  Not 
> sticking to release schedules sucks.  Don't hold releases hostage for 
> features.
>
Our current methodology is: release when ready.

> <don=fedora-kde-packager-hat>
> This would pretty much screw us trying to ship kde4 (as the default kde 
> desktop) for fedora 8 (which *is*, err maybe *was* the plan).
> </don>
> 
If I were one of your customers (and I am), I would be very wary
of using KDE 4.0.x.   KDE 4.1.2 sounds about right.

> My totally biased suggestion: try harder to stick to schedule as much as 
> possible, which means
> * hold folks accountable to get their sh*t fixed (I know... isn't always 
> possible in an opensource/volunteer world)... or...
Yeah, not gonna do that.  We publish milestones and hope for the best.

My main concerns are: 1) our core library APIs and 2) the "KDE desktop".
Before we call something "beta" we really need to have our APIs in very good
shape. And we really need a relatively stable desktop, as Erik pointed out.

I'm not that concerned about the applications yet.

-Allen