JIRA JQL: 'project = ACCUMULO AND resolution = Unresolved AND type not in (Sub-task, Bug) AND fixVersion in (1.4.6,1.5.2,1.6.1)'
There are 32 outstanding issues not marked as "Bugs" planned for bugfix releases. This seems inappropriate to me. I would prefer to be very strict about the right-most segment of a version number, by defining it as "for bugfix releases", and by following the rule: if the issue doesn't fix a bug, then it doesn't go in a bugfix release. This strictness could help us focus on fixing and supporting actual bugs in previous releases, without being bogged down by non-bugs, it could help focus improvements in the latest version and encourage more rapid releases, and give users more reasons to upgrade. It would also help stabilize previous releases, by avoiding the introduction of new bugs, which bodes well for long-term support. I know we've previously talked about semver and other strict versioning schemes, but regardless of whether we do any of those other things, I think this strictness is the very least we could do, and we could start encouraging this strictness today, with minimal impact. All it would take is to define the last segment of the versioned releases as "for bugfix releases", regardless of defining the rest of the version number (which can be discussed separately, and this is a subset of most any versioning scheme we've discussed already). The implication is that some things we've done in the past to "backport" improvements and features, which didn't address a bug, would no longer be permitted. Or, at the very least, would have been highly discouraged, or would have warranted a vote (see next paragraph). As with anything, there may be important exceptions, so perhaps with this strictness about "bugfix only for bugfix releases", we could encourage (by convention, if not by policy) calling a vote for non-bugfix changes, and rely on the veto for enforcement if a non-bugfix was applied to a bugfix version. If we agree to this strictness as a community, knowing a particular change is likely to result in a veto can be a big help in discouraging violations. As a final note, I should mention that there are at least a few of us who have been thinking about this last segment of the version as "bugfix only" anyways, if only informally. The lack of formalization/strictness about this, though, has permitted some things in the past that are probably not the best ideas in terms of stability and long-term support of previous release lines. Hopefully, by adopting this strictness as a community, instead of just informally in a few of our heads, we can all get on the same page, and it will make the project better overall. -- Christopher L Tubbs II http://gravatar.com/ctubbsii
