[vox] [fwd] Debian decides to adopt time-based release freezes

[Brian Lavender]

Soon, the Pope will subscribe to Debian!

On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 08:03:28PM -0700, Bill Kendrick wrote:
> 
> In case folks hadn't seen this:
> 
> ----- Forwarded message from Meike Reichle -----
> 
> Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:08:02 +0200
> From: Meike Reichle
> Subject: [debian-announce] Debian decides to adopt time-based release freezes
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> The Debian Project                                 http://www.debian.org/
> Debian adopts time-based release freezes                 press at debian.org
> July 29th, 2009                  http://www.debian.org/News/2009/20090729
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Debian decides to adopt time-based release freezes
> 
> The Debian project has decided to adopt a new policy of time-based
> development freezes for future releases, on a two-year cycle. Freezes
> will from now on happen in the December of every odd year, which means
> that releases will from now on happen sometime in the first half of every
> even year.  To that effect the next freeze will happen in December 2009,
> with a release expected in spring 2010. The project chose December as a
> suitable freeze date since spring releases proved successful for the
> releases of Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (codenamed "Etch") and Debian GNU/Linux
> 5.0 ("Lenny").
> 
> Time-based freezes will allow the Debian Project to blend the
> predictability of time based releases with its well established policy of
> feature based releases. The new freeze policy will provide better
> predictability of releases for users of the Debian distribution, and also
> allow Debian developers to do better long-term planning.  A two-year
> release cycle will give more time for disruptive changes, reducing
> inconveniences caused for users. Having predictable freezes should also
> reduce overall freeze time.
> 
> Since Debian's last release happened on Feb. 14th 2009, there will only
> be approximately a one year period until its next release, Debian
> GNU/Linux 6.0 (codenamed "Squeeze").  This will be a one-time exception
> to the two-year policy in order to get into the new time schedule. To
> accommodate the needs of larger organisations and other users with a long
> upgrade process, the Debian project commits to provide the possibility to
> skip the upcoming release and do a skip-upgrade straight from Debian
> GNU/Linux 5.0 ("Lenny") to Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (not yet codenamed).
> 
> Although the next freeze is only a short time away, the Debian project
> hopes to achieve several prominent goals with it. The most important are
> multi-arch support, which will improve the installation of 32 bit
> packages on 64 bit machines, and an optimised boot process for better
> boot performance and reliability. 
> 
> The new freeze policy was proposed and agreed during the Debian Project's
> yearly conference, DebConf, which is currently taking place in Caceres,
> Spain. The idea was well received among the attending project members. 
> 
> 
> About Debian
> ------------
> 
> The Debian Project is an association of Free Software developers who
> volunteer their time and effort in order to produce the completely free
> operating system Debian GNU/Linux.
> 
> 
> Contact Information
> -------------------
> 
> For further information, please visit the Debian web pages at
> <http://www.debian.org/>, send mail to <press at debian.org>, or contact the
> stable release team at <debian-release at lists.debian.org>
> 
> ----- End forwarded message -----
> 
> -- 
> -bill!
> Sent from my computer
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-- 
Brian Lavender
http://www.brie.com/brian/