Re: Release on April 18th?

[Leo Famulari]

On Fri, Mar 05, 2021 at 09:20:10PM +0100, zimoun wrote:
> On #guix, I proposed [1] without an answer (yet :-)):
> 
>         what is the current blocking for merging core-updates? I mean
>         the last merge seems from May 2020. If all the branch is not in
>         a state to be mergeable, maybe we could simply merge a part of
>         it. WDYT?
> 
> 1: <http://logs.guix.gnu.org/guix/2021-03-05.log#194536>

Anything is possible, but I think that determining which parts are ready
to merge will be just as much work as completing the entire branch.
Unless people have been maintaining private branches with specific
updates cherry-picked and can vouch that they are working well.

> On Fri, 05 Mar 2021 at 14:27, Leo Famulari <leo@famulari.name> wrote:
> > Simon, is there a reason you chose April 18 for the release? Or could we
> > choose a later date?
> 
> Because a) it is ~6 months later than previous one and I think releasing
> twice a year is the process we should adopt, b) it is an anniversary
> (first commit) and by chance the other anniversary (first public
> announce on Nov. 23rd) is spaced by ~6 month.

Agreed.

> However, I think it is a bad idea to postpone and wait for core-updates
> merge.  We should fix deadlines for releasing everything ~6 months and
> simply make it happen.  IMHO.

Agreed. But I don't think we can force core-updates, or we will regret
it when problems slip through. It's better to release on schedule
without core-updates.

> That’s said, when could core-update be merged to master?  What could be
> the deadline?  From my point of view, delaying a couple (meaning 2 or 3
> here ;-)) of weeks from April 18th sounds fine with me.
> 
> Even, from my understanding, we should minor release ASAP, e.g., on
> April 18th or even before if possible.  And we could also plan to
> release (major or minor) after the core-updates merge (say in June).
> Then on Nov. 23rd, I think it could be nice to have another release.
> Well, since Guix is rolling-release, releasing should be smooth.
> 
> BTW, I sympathize with the frustration about core-updates not merged
> since last May.  On the other hand, I did nothing to help in the merging
> process. :-(  Maybe, we could organize a hackathon or synchronize a
> core-updates week: freeze the branch and address issues.  WDYT?

So, based on the status of ci.guix.gnu.org, I feel that we could not have
begun working on core-updates before January 2021. And then, in January,
staging was in progress.

Now, ci.guix.gnu.org is working well, and we can work more quickly and
confidently. However, my experience in the past tells me that 6 weeks is
not quite long enough to complete the branch and validate it for a
release. But, it really depends on how many people can help.