New 1.14 RC date?

[Ben Finney]

Jeff Licquia <jeff at licquia.org> writes:

> Ben Finney wrote:
> > I think more assurance is required than this; the default assumption
> > should be “if it's not clearly ready for release, it's not ready”.
> 
> And how do we get that assurance?

By getting wider testing of that code. Which is clearly the motivation
here; what I'm arguing is that putting it into an official release is
a poor way to satisfy that motivation.

If you want wider testing of a not-ready-for-release feature, that's
done by making it easier to get at that feature *for those who choose
it explicitly at install time*. My point is that it's a bad idea, a
cynical undermining of the “released” distincti,on for the
not-ready-for-release code to be lurking in an official release.

One suggestion that has been made is an automated, regular build of
installers for the development branch. There may be other ways.

> To my mind, forcing developers to not release beta-quality formats
> (clearly marked as such) won't magically improve the quality of
> released formats; it just means that we won't know when we're
> beta-testing a new format or not without closely following the
> mailing list.

I don't follow this. You won't know whether you're running the
development branch of Bazaar?

> I think we've all had the experience of being unwitting beta testers
> for supposedly release-quality code. Are we actually advocating that
> the bzr devs be less honest about when this happens with bzr?

Exactly the opposite: I'm saying that it's dishonest to release a
product, yet knowingly do so with features that are not ready for
release.

The honest thing to do is to acknowledge that some features *are not
ready*, and lower the barrier for wider participation *by those who
choose to participate*. Having the features in the official release is
not the way; choosing to install and run a different product is.

> I seem to be hearing the developers say that the only proven way to
> get that broader testing is to let people play with beta formats
> without having to reinstall bzr.

I'm saying that this has also proven to have bad effects, as described
elsewhere in this thread. I'm also saying there are ways to increase
exposure without slipping the not-ready code into an official release.

-- 
 \          “I moved into an all-electric house. I forgot and left the |
  `\   porch light on all day. When I got home the front door wouldn't |
_o__)                                            open.” —Steven Wright |
Ben Finney