[SL-devel] on core teams and releases

[Wolfden]

hmmmmmmm I dunno.  3.4 is a good example to use.  The packages are almost a
year old now and so many changes to portage.   A world update isn't even
recommended for it, but that is what the general public is told to use for a
stable version.  I don't think release often is the answer till quality can
be controlled.  A release going out with hal issues is not good and could of
been prevented.  So than you're faced with, how long do I hold a release
back till a fix comes along?  Will going with cd releases vs. dvd release be
better as it can be controlled easier.  Updates can be easier performed on
cd releases, with entropy adding packages is no big deal and than people are
in control of what is on their installs.

You got the people that love the DVD releases and for new people to linux,
the DVD release is easier for them to run.  They don't have to deal with
sources and most multimedia plugins are included so they can have stuff
working OTB.

It's a tough call, but I think a stable and quality release is what is
important.  When we had fast releases it confused people.  People thought
3.4a was alpha and didn't know what to download, a , e or f.  People were
even posting on the forum concerns about what the next version number was
going to be.

People have to remember that we only have one developer also.  He can only
be in so many areas at one time.  It's easy to make mistakes and when you
don't have other's double checking, it doesn't get caught till it's too
late.  I do it all the time myself, something so simple gets by.  If we
could find some dedicated trust worthy people that can pickup some of the
areas like ebuild maintainers, it can take a chunk off of Fabio.  Something
is better than nothing.

I'm not a programmer/coder.  I don't know how, I've had one semester of
visual basic.  I've never maintained ebuilds either.  I had help from Chris
one time to create an ebuild for a package, but that is about it.  I've
never really needed to make an ebuild so never learned.  I would like to see
different versions of Sabayon kicked out.  A gnome version, xfce version,
etc...., but once again, I've never done anything like that myself.  Fabio
doesn't have time to teach remastering operating systems.  I have read and
have an idea how it has to be done.  I like to work with the community more,
trying to keep them up to date, keeping up with developments in Gentoo and
linux world in general.  Trouble shooting and seeking solutions to people's
problems.  If I run across something neat, I will pass it along to the
Sabayon community.  I maintain topics like C-F as that is very popular and
I'm not even a big fan of it myself, but that is what people want - latest
howtos.  I get private pms from people all the time thanking for topics like
that.  If I see someone posting great info I ask them to add it to our wiki
for everyone's benefit.  We need more supporters of various knownledge for
the forums and irc.  We need support for foreign lanuages.  We need this to
grow, but it's tough to get people to be dedicated.

I know Fabio is dedicated to his cause, but he needs active teams in
different areas to help.  Ideas and input on how to get teams developed are
wide open for discussion.



On Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 6:20 PM, Jeffrey D Katz <eris2342 at verizon.net>
wrote:

> As long as users have differing hardware and software needs show-stopper
> bugs cannot be finitely enumerated.
>
> I run multiple monitors off an ATI-based notebook (I've tried all 3
> drivers).  Built-in and additional sound cards.  Realtime kernels.
> Agere ethernet and Ralink wireless.  Multiple drives (several
> terabytes).  I've yet to find a bug free OS.  SabayonLinux 3.26 came
> closest.  That includes over 2 dozen Linux variants, XP (32 and 64 bit),
> and Vista (32 and 64 bit).
>
> No matter how large or small the beta test team, how long the beta
> tests, some machines will also have show-stopper bugs (e.g. the current
> outcry over Vista SP1).
>
> As a user, my only recommendation is more frequent release points.
> Several times I've installed SabayonLinux DVD only to face between 1500
> and 2000 software upgrades.  Something will fail, statistically
> speaking.  emerge or equo.  An incomplete python upgrade taking out
> layman.  Yes, Wolfden, the answers are available in the forums, but that
> assumes that the machine is bootable and that either X or a console is
> available (I've had to look up answers from the console using a text
> browser or, when locked out of the console, rebooting with a livecd) and
> that networking works (I've had it fail).
>
> Release early, release often.
> _______________________________________________
> devel mailing list
> devel at lists.sabayonlinux.org
> http://lists.sabayonlinux.org/listinfo.cgi/devel-sabayonlinux.org
>



-- 
KJS
~wolfden~
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