To release Samba 4.0 'as is'

[Karolin Seeger]

Hey,

On Thu, Dec 01, 2011 at 09:56:05AM -0800, Jeremy Allison wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 01, 2011 at 12:12:44PM +0100, Kai Blin wrote:
> > On 2011-12-01 11:46, Andrew Bartlett wrote:
> > 
> > > However, it seems clear (but not stated clearly) that those who
> > > would be called on to support that code are not
> > > willing/able/confident to support the release of the fileserver
> > > components at this time.
> > 
> > Because you're proposing to release something in the middle of their
> > release cycle. You're happy to rely on autobuild for sanity checking,
> > but at least the last couple of Samba 3.x series releases had more
> > vetting before a release. This is significant extra effort, which as
> > far as I understand doesn't really make sense at this point of the
> > file server release cycle, because that's currently in the "add new
> > features" stage.
> > 
> > > Given that, I'm puzzled, but happy with a AD only release.
> > 
> > I think this is a clash of development cultures here, hence your
> > puzzlement. s4 alphas so far were snapshots right out of master,
> > whenever people felt there was a reasonable set of new features or bug
> > fixes, while relying on autobuild/selftest to make sure whatever we
> > ship actually works. S3 releases come with release candidates, a
> > release branch that is forked off prior to the release, and a lot of
> > people testing the release branch in additional scenarios. That's why
> > the S3 folks have the knee-jerk reaction that you're just dumping a
> > grab-bag of features out there. It's not what their releases look
> > like, so they're puzzled as well.
> 
> +1 on this excellent summation of the issues.

indeed, thanks Kai! :-) 
 
> The thing is - to release a real 4.0.0 we need (IMHO) to
> move to the 3.x method of release management. The current
> "release a snapshot out of master" method can't be the
> way a full 4.0.0 release is done.
> 
> Once all the new features for 4.0.0 are done we need
> to branch off a v4-0-test and v4-0-release branch,
> lock down so Karolin is the only person who can
> commit, and move to the standard release management
> for the final 4.0.0 (no changes without attached
> bug report, 2 team member review etc. etc.).
> 
> That's the only way to get a quality 4.0.0 release
> done.

I agree on this. Please note that it takes ~6 month between
branching and the final release (known from experience). Shipping
Samba 4.0.0pre1 in 2 weeks is impossible from my point of view.
I would like to vote for starting the new branches after
the plumbing design and the Winbind solution are done (and other possibly
blocking issues have been addressed).

I do also strongly argue against shipping the AD server only, except the
name will be different from s4. IMHO, all s3 features need to be supported in
the final s4 release (I think Lars wrote that also). Everything else would
be misleading.

I would really love to see s4 final, but to me it seems to be impossible to
see it in 2012.

Cheers,
Karolin

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