I've had some experience with protocols such as are described by Osma and I think that they have real value for (particularly for large) users and sites. And as he says, they can be automated. I would be willing to help with that. I would like to learn more about Apache infrastructure.
That having been said, I must also agree with Andy that, much as we might like to provide them, true LTS releases are probably beyond our strength right now. I wonder if any vendors are currently offering such a product? ajs6f > On Jan 24, 2017, at 7:57 AM, Osma Suominen <[email protected]> wrote: > > 23.01.2017, 19:31, Andy Seaborne kirjoitti: > >> To expand on that: That would mean users could get source code to build >> themselves, it would not be an "Apache release" and not in maven >> central. For "products", the legal side of a release probably matters. > > Source code yes, but I think it would make sense to set up some kind of > autobuilder for the stable branch, similar to how snapshots are built > nightly. It shouldn't be much effort to set this up, but it would be a > valuable service for users. > >>> Currently when a user discovers and reports a bug in Jena and it gets >>> fixed in master, the user has to choose between waiting for the next >>> release or using a snapshot, >> or cherry picking - it's a distributed version control system! > > You're right, but it takes some effort and understanding of the git tree and > how to build it. > >>> which may have other unrelated issues due >>> to ongoing development. With a stable branch, there would be a third >>> option - like the previous release, but with some bugs fixed. >> >> If we want a proper release, it's a vote - quite doable, just needs >> someone to do it. > > Yes, having more frequent releases and distributing the RM burden further are > both excellent new developments. If new releases are made frequently, there > is less need for a stable branch. > > I'm not proposing creating such a stable branch at the moment, just pointing > out that if we want to better serve users who need a (semi-)supported > non-development version, a stable branch like this could be a solution that > wouldn't require much extra effort from the developers. > > -Osma > > -- > Osma Suominen > D.Sc. (Tech), Information Systems Specialist > National Library of Finland > P.O. Box 26 (Kaikukatu 4) > 00014 HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO > Tel. +358 50 3199529 > [email protected] > http://www.nationallibrary.fi
