Re: Do we need a 3. level between stable and cuurent?

2001-02-20 Thread Crist J. Clark

On Mon, Feb 19, 2001 at 10:30:17AM -0800, Alfred Perlstein wrote:
 * Leif Neland [EMAIL PROTECTED] [010219 08:54] wrote:
  We all know: -current is bleeding edge, expect it to break at random. Don't run it 
if you don't know how to fix it.
  -stable is for production, it works all the time.
  
  Do we need a level in between for people who just run current for the fun of it 
and for testing.
  So after the hardcore has tested it in -current, they commit it to all the monkeys 
trying to break it, and we then try it on n^m' combinations of hardware/software.
  
  I might not be able to fix a problem, but I can report what happens, and if my 
-current breaks for a few days, it is no big deal.
  
  While -current is not for everybody, I believe people like me helps in quality 
testing before the stuff hits -stable.
  
  Perhaps not a level, just a separate file, which contained the date of the last 
known version without known major problems. (or "." if no known problems)
 
 This is a good idea, however it would take someone dedicated to
 maintaining this as well as doing regression testing.  Those
 regression tests could easily be ported to -stable making for
 happier -stable as well as -current users.
 
 Are you volunteering? :)

IMHO, people who are not actively developing -CURRENT, those running
it for fun or only occasionally hacking non-essential portions just
need to realize that blindly tracking -CURRENT with a daily, weekly,
or perhaps any regular make-world schedule is just not going to
work. Find a reasonably stable version of -CURRENT and stick with it
until you know that the current -CURRENT is also in decent shape.

For example, I did a make world early in February and started getting
kernel panics at boot. I tried to get some help and provide some data
on freebsd-current to fix it, but I just did not have the time and
tools. I ended up just CVSuping a back to a version I knew was in
good shape and the box has been fine. I can use it for what I want,
and I'm not upping it until I hear things have settled a bit... And I
hope that's soon, I don't want it to diverge too much or else merging
my changes in might get painful.

What would help me and others like me is some way to actually figure
out if the current -CURRENT is stable (I like that sentence). I am not
saying it would be a substitute for freebsd-current and the commit
list, but those can be very, very hard to follow. Rather than two
versions of -CURRENT provide the data for people to fairly quickly
determine if today's -CURRENT is solid enough for them. In some sense,
each commit makes a new version, people need to decide up to what
recent earth-shaking commit they can go to and be safe. Possibly some
webpage summarizing what is broken, which essential pieces are in
active development, etc.

Obviously, this would take effort, but it may be worth it to those who
want to track a stable -CURRENT. It is definately less work than
maintaining two versions. How does it differ than reading the mailing
lists? You don't need to dig through a dozen me-toos for each
problem. Someone more knowledgeble on things can filter the claims
that -CURRENT is broken from people who can't read UPDATING. And so
on.

And no, I am not volunteering.
-- 
Crist J. Clark   [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Do we need a 3. level between stable and cuurent?

2001-02-19 Thread Leif Neland

We all know: -current is bleeding edge, expect it to break at random. Don't run it if 
you don't know how to fix it.
-stable is for production, it works all the time.

Do we need a level in between for people who just run current for the fun of it and 
for testing.
So after the hardcore has tested it in -current, they commit it to all the monkeys 
trying to break it, and we then try it on n^m' combinations of hardware/software.

I might not be able to fix a problem, but I can report what happens, and if my 
-current breaks for a few days, it is no big deal.

While -current is not for everybody, I believe people like me helps in quality testing 
before the stuff hits -stable.

Perhaps not a level, just a separate file, which contained the date of the last known 
version without known major problems. (or "." if no known problems)

Leif




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RE: Do we need a 3. level between stable and cuurent?

2001-02-19 Thread [EMAIL PROTECTED]

 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Leif Neland
 Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 8:55 AM
 Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject: Do we need a 3. level between stable and cuurent?


 We all know: -current is bleeding edge, expect it to break at
 random. Don't run it if you don't know how to fix it.
 -stable is for production, it works all the time.

-RELEASE, I thought, is for production. Although, it's true, -STABLE rarely
has a stop.

 Do we need a level in between for people who just run current for
 the fun of it and for testing.
 So after the hardcore has tested it in -current, they commit it
 to all the monkeys trying to break it, and we then try it on n^m'
 combinations of hardware/software.

Actually, I've always thought that's what -STABLE is for?

 I might not be able to fix a problem, but I can report what
 happens, and if my -current breaks for a few days, it is no big deal.

 While -current is not for everybody, I believe people like me
 helps in quality testing before the stuff hits -stable.

Actually, I've always thought that's what -STABLE is for? Deja-vu :)

 Perhaps not a level, just a separate file, which contained the
 date of the last known version without known major problems. (or
 "." if no known problems)

I think the current HEADS UP given on here is sufficient warning to
determine if a make world will build or if there are stops.


YMMV

OF


 Leif




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Re: Do we need a 3. level between stable and cuurent?

2001-02-19 Thread Dermot McNally

"oldfart@gtonet" wrote:

 -RELEASE, I thought, is for production. Although, it's true, -STABLE rarely
 has a stop.

Nope, -STABLE is for production, -RELEASE is for installing immediately
prior to upgrading it to -STABLE. X.X-STABLE = X.X-RELEASE + fixes +
carefully selected stuff that has been well tested in -CURRENT.

Dermot

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---
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RE: Do we need a 3. level between stable and cuurent?

2001-02-19 Thread [EMAIL PROTECTED]

I stand corrected...

 -Original Message-
 From: Dermot McNally [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
 Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 9:23 AM
 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Cc: freebsd-current@FreeBSD. ORG
 Subject: Re: Do we need a 3. level between stable and cuurent?
 
 
 "oldfart@gtonet" wrote:
 
  -RELEASE, I thought, is for production. Although, it's true, 
 -STABLE rarely
  has a stop.
 
 Nope, -STABLE is for production, -RELEASE is for installing immediately
 prior to upgrading it to -STABLE. X.X-STABLE = X.X-RELEASE + fixes +
 carefully selected stuff that has been well tested in -CURRENT.
 
 Dermot
 
 --
 ---
 Dermot McNally, Chief Technical Officer, Directski.com
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.directski.com - ski the web


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Re: Do we need a 3. level between stable and cuurent?

2001-02-19 Thread Steve O'Hara-Smith

On Mon, 19 Feb 2001 17:22:43 +
Dermot McNally [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

DM Nope, -STABLE is for production, -RELEASE is for installing immediately

Indeed, in fact there has been at least one release that was *not*
tagged for -STABLE (3.0).

-- 
Tell a computer to WIN  - you lose!


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Re: Do we need a 3. level between stable and cuurent?

2001-02-19 Thread Alfred Perlstein

* Leif Neland [EMAIL PROTECTED] [010219 08:54] wrote:
 We all know: -current is bleeding edge, expect it to break at random. Don't run it 
if you don't know how to fix it.
 -stable is for production, it works all the time.
 
 Do we need a level in between for people who just run current for the fun of it and 
for testing.
 So after the hardcore has tested it in -current, they commit it to all the monkeys 
trying to break it, and we then try it on n^m' combinations of hardware/software.
 
 I might not be able to fix a problem, but I can report what happens, and if my 
-current breaks for a few days, it is no big deal.
 
 While -current is not for everybody, I believe people like me helps in quality 
testing before the stuff hits -stable.
 
 Perhaps not a level, just a separate file, which contained the date of the last 
known version without known major problems. (or "." if no known problems)

This is a good idea, however it would take someone dedicated to
maintaining this as well as doing regression testing.  Those
regression tests could easily be ported to -stable making for
happier -stable as well as -current users.

Are you volunteering? :)

-- 
-Alfred Perlstein - [[EMAIL PROTECTED]|[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
"I have the heart of a child; I keep it in a jar on my desk."


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Re: Do we need a 3. level between stable and cuurent?

2001-02-19 Thread Sheldon Hearn



On Mon, 19 Feb 2001 17:54:53 +0100, "Leif Neland" wrote:

 Do we need a level in between for people who just run current for the
 fun of it and for testing.  So after the hardcore has tested it in
 -current, they commit it to all the monkeys trying to break it, and we
 then try it on n^m' combinations of hardware/software.

This is a great idea that nobody else has pushed very hard because of
resource constraints. :-(

Ciao,
Sheldon.

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