A Case for Modifying the Ubuntu Release Schedule

[Robbie Williamson]

All the discussion around 10.10.10 and cadence pushed me to take a
deeper look at the schedule of past releases...to see how close to a
cadence we actually are.  Interestingly enough, I found that while the
releases were in the same month (and towards the end), the amount of
development and bug fix time varied greatly. Here's some pertinent data:
        
        9.04 (Jaunty): 25weeks
        ======================
        Started: Week of Nov 6th
        Ended: Week of Apr 23rd
        * 4 Weeks pre-UDS
        * 3 Weeks Part-Time Development
        - I define this as the dip in productivity we see the week
        after 
           UDS and during the US/European holiday season
        * 7 Weeks Full-Time Development through Feature Freeze
        * 7 Weeks of Bug fixing through FinalFreeze
        * 2 Weeks of “Cleanup” through Release
        
        9.10 (Karmic): 27 weeks
        =======================
        Started: Week of Apr 30th
        Ended: Week of Oct 29th
        * 4 Week pre-UDS
        * 1 Week Part-Time Development
        * 12 Weeks of Full-Time Development through Feature Freeze
        * 7 Weeks of Bug fixing through FinalFreeze
        * 2 Weeks of “Cleanup” through Release
        
        10.04 (Lucid): 26 weeks
        =======================
        Started: Week of Nov 5th
        Ended: Week of Apr 29th
        * 2 Weeks pre-UDS
        * 3 Weeks Part-Time Development
        * 9 Weeks Full-Time Development through Feature Freeze
        * 8 Weeks of Bug fixing through FinalFreeze
        - LTS cycle added an extra Beta, and thus an extra week in bug 
           fixing
        * 2 Weeks of “Cleanup” through Release
        
        10.10 (Maverick): 26 weeks
        ==========================
        Started: Week of May 6th
        Ends: Week of Oct 28th
        * 1 Week pre-UDS
        * 1 Week Part-Time Development
        * 14 Weeks of Full-Time Development through Feature Freeze
        * 7 Weeks of Bug fixing through FinalFreeze
        * 2 Weeks of “Cleanup” through Release

Assuming we stay on a 26 week schedule, this is what 11.04 looks like:

        11.04 : 26 weeks
        ================
        Starts: Week of Nov 4th
        Ends: Week of Apr 28th
        * 2 Week pre-UDS
        * 4 Weeks Part-Time Development
        * 9 Weeks of Full-Time Development through Feature Freeze
        * 7 Weeks of Bug fixing through FinalFreeze
        * 2 Weeks of “Cleanup” through Release

So while both cycles are 26wks, we have 14wks of development in 10.10,
and only 9wk in 11.04...hardly a true "cadence". I propose we adjust our
schedules to focus on actual development and test time, not simply split
the 52wks in half.  If we do this, this is what 10.10 and 11.04 look
like:

        10.10 (Maverick): 24 weeks
        ==========================
        Started: Week of May 6th
        Ends: Week of Oct 14th
        * 1 Week pre-UDS
        * 1 Week Part-Time Development
        * 12 Weeks of Full-Time Development through Feature Freeze
        * 7 Weeks of Bug fixing through FinalFreeze
        * 2 Weeks of “Cleanup” through Release

    11.04 : 28 weeks
        ================
        Starts: Week of Oct 21st
        Ends: Week of Apr 28th
        * 1 Week pre-UDS
        * 4 Weeks Part-Time Development
        * 12 Weeks of Full-Time Development through Feature Freeze
        * 7 Weeks of Bug fixing through FinalFreeze
        * 2 Weeks of “Cleanup” through Release

Both cycles will have approximately the same amount of pre-UDS,
development, bug fixing, and cleanup times.  I will point out that the
schedules ignore the gnome release schedule, and if this is a large
issue...the proposal breaks.  I'd like to point out that an interesting
side-effect of this proposal, is that I can make the schedule coloring
actually relevant, i.e. based on key freeze points in the schedule.

Now to 10.10.10.  If we accept the proposal and move forward with
releasing in mid-October and the end of April, a move to releasing on
10.10.10 is trivial:

        10.10.10 (Maverick): 23 weeks
        =============================
        Started: Week of May 6th
        Ends: Week of Oct 14th
        * 1 Week pre-UDS
        * 1 Week Part-Time Development
        * 11 Weeks of Full-Time Development through Feature Freeze
        * 7 Weeks of Bug fixing through FinalFreeze
        * 2 Weeks of “Cleanup” through Release

I've blogged a bit more about this here:
        https://undacuvabrutha.wordpress.com
        
Based on all this, I feel 10.10.10 is easily achievable and something we
should take advantage of. So don't panic...we will deliver.

-Robbie


-- 
Robbie Williamson                                      robbie at canonical.com 
Canonical, Ltd.                                   robbiew[irc.freenode.net]                               

"You can't be lucky all the time, but you can be smart everyday" 
 -Mos Def

"Arrogance is thinking you are better than everyone else, while
Confidence is knowing no one else is better than you." -Me ;)