From owner-freebsd-current Sun Feb 22 14:14:52 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id OAA25609 for freebsd-current-outgoing; Sun, 22 Feb 1998 14:14:52 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from allegro.lemis.com (allegro.lemis.com [192.109.197.134]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA25604 for ; Sun, 22 Feb 1998 14:14:47 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from grog@lemis.com) Received: from freebie.lemis.com (freebie.lemis.com [192.109.197.137]) by allegro.lemis.com (8.8.7/8.8.5) with ESMTP id IAA07324; Mon, 23 Feb 1998 08:44:28 +1030 (CST) Received: (from grog@localhost) by freebie.lemis.com (8.8.8/8.8.7) id IAA26159; Mon, 23 Feb 1998 08:44:22 +1030 (CST) (envelope-from grog) Message-ID: <19980223084422.20994@freebie.lemis.com> Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 08:44:22 +1030 From: Greg Lehey To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" , Nate Williams Cc: Terry Lambert , current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: More breakage in -current as a result of header frobbing. References: <199802221752.KAA24429@mt.sri.com> <27525.888172295@time.cdrom.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.89i In-Reply-To: <27525.888172295@time.cdrom.com>; from Jordan K. Hubbard on Sun, Feb 22, 1998 at 10:31:35AM -0800 WWW-Home-Page: http://www.lemis.com/~grog Organization: LEMIS, PO Box 460, Echunga SA 5153, Australia Phone: +61-8-8388-8286 Fax: +61-8-8388-8725 Mobile: +61-41-739-7062 Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Sun, 22 February 1998 at 10:31:35 -0800, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: > Nate Williams wrote: >> We can't have it both ways. Either we have an *enforced* policy of >> actually punishing offenders (which may offend them and cause them to >> run away), or we don't have any policy at all and so claiming to have > > I'd rather not have a policy based on punishment. We're supposed to > be doing this for fun and the joy of making a good OS, and hitting > people with sticks is not conducive to that. Agreed. But a policy based on punishement isn't the same thing as a policy which includes punishment in exceptional circumstances. We've seen a lot of llamas, Terry-bashing and so on in this discussion, but we don't seem to be any closer to a clear policy on how to commit things. I made a suggestion about one possibility, expecting people to tear it apart. Instead, they turned and chased Terry, obviously a more satisfying activity. Back to the original subject, guys. I proposed the following Let's accept the fact that -CURRENT's stability fluctuates and try to influence the rhythm. One possiblity might be to say: - The first weekend in each month is the correct time for commiting big modifications that can potentially compromise stability for a while to come. - Any Sunday is the correct time for commiting smaller modifications that can potentially compromise stability for a few days. The advantage is that people can expect -CURRENT to be relatively stable on a Friday, and particularly stable at the end of a month. This is only a suggested implementation. I don't know how inconvenient it might be. Another alternative is the "heads up" approach--after a period of relative stability, somebody could say "I'm going to commit some changes to the frobulator which potentially impact stability. I'll do it tomorrow night unless I'm shouted down". None of this should replace basic testing, of course (build it and execute it, confirm it doesn't fall over immediately in every case). Greg To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message