Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 22:43:24 +0100
From: Willy Tarreau <willy@w.ods.org>
To: "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>, Horst von Brand <vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl>,
       Thomas Graf <tgraf@suug.ch>, Bill Davidsen <davidsen@tmr.com>,
       Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>, Diego Calleja <diegocg@teleline.es>,
       wli@holomorphy.com, aebr@win.tue.nl, solt2@dns.toxicfilms.tv,
       linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: starting with 2.7
Message-ID: <20050104214324.GG22075@alpha.home.local>
References: <20050104031229.GE26856@postel.suug.ch> <200501041534.j04FY9g7008583@laptop11.inf.utfsm.cl> <20050104211910.GB7280@thunk.org>
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On Tue, Jan 04, 2005 at 04:19:10PM -0500, Theodore Ts'o wrote:
> The problem with the -rc releases is that we try to predict in advance
> which releases in advance will be stable, and we don't seem to be able
> to do a good job of that.

I really like this description, it's the most accurate description I ever
read of an -rc release. I wish you could convince Linus with it. 

The problem with -rc is that if we try to predict, it implies that we don't
expect to count much on user reports. Then why do an -rc at all if we don't
expect enough testings ?

> If we do a release every week, my guess is
> that at least 1 in 3 releases will turn out to be stable enough for
> most purposes.  But we won't know until after 2 or 3 days which
> releases will be the good ones.

That's always been my point, and one of the reasons why *some* of Alan's
kernels work well.

> In practice, that's all the -rc releases are these days anyway (there
> are times when a 2.6.x-rcy release is more stable than 2.6.z).  The
> problem is that since the -rc releases are called what they are
> called, they don't get enough testing.

Perfectly true. I would add that with -rc releases, people only upgrade when
we tell them that they can, while with more frequent releases, they upgrade
when they *need* to, and can try several versions if the first one they pick
does not work.

Regards,
Willy

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