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Date:      Tue, 03 Oct 2000 18:32:28 +0100
From:      Paul Richards <paul@originative.co.uk>
To:        Christopher Masto <chris@netmonger.net>
Cc:        Warner Losh <imp@village.org>, Kris Kennaway <kris@FreeBSD.ORG>, Joseph Scott <joseph.scott@owp.csus.edu>, Brian Somers <brian@FreeBSD.ORG>, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: cvs commit: src/usr.bin/finger finger.c
Message-ID:  <39DA182C.C70ED553@originative.co.uk>
References:  <39D98B55.126DAFC4@originative.co.uk> <200010022227.PAA62603@freefall.freebsd.org> <39D92E08.E00CF2E4@owp.csus.edu> <20001002180303.A40584@freefall.freebsd.org> <39D98B55.126DAFC4@originative.co.uk> <200010031530.JAA26493@harmony.village.org> <20001003124008.A4892@netmonger.net>

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Christopher Masto wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Oct 03, 2000 at 09:30:13AM -0600, Warner Losh wrote:
> > : I think we push too many enhancements from current to stable, when we
> > : should really only push bug fixes onto the stable branch. The tendency
> > : to add enhancements carries the risk of actually creating new bugs in
> > : stable which is obviously not what we want to have happen.
> >
> > Exactly.  We shouldn't be merging features at all, unless there's a
> > compelling reason, the code has been reviewed by at least two people
> > and it has had at least a month or two in current.  If you can't find
> > two people to review the code, then you can't merge it to stable due
> > to lack of interest.
> 
> The problem with being too cautious is that stable becomes unusable
> and people who shouldn't be running current start moving to it because
> stable doesn't support their new laptop.

The people who are using FreeBSD in production environments need to have
bug fixes made available for their stable version of the OS. If applying
bug fixes de-stabilises their production environment then they're not
very happy at all.

I think the emphasis of the stable branch should be too support those
production users. The users who are chasing features will always be
pushing for a "stable current" and want the best of both worlds; new
features *and* stability. Unfortunately that's an unachievable ideal and
we shouldn't penalise those who really need the stability in trying to
meet it.

We're not applying sound software engineering practices anymore and that
used to be what differentiated us from other projects. New code needs to
be thoroughly tested before it's stamped as suitable for production use
and I think the desire to make life easier, by merging things sooner
rather than later when they might get forgotten about, is having a
detrimental effect on the quality of stable.

I think we should have a stable release team, that changes to the stable
branch should be gated through to ensure they're thouroughly tested and
that there's a need for them to be backported. I'd be happy to work with
anyone else who wants to volunteer to do that since maintaining a stable
version of the OS is a major issue for me with my new hat on.

Paul Richards
FreeBSD Services Ltd


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