Am 17/09/2013 20:23, schrieb Jessica Hamilton:
Bringing the discussion back on topic, I think we all agree a release should be done. My only concern personally is rushing to beta status.
Our definition of beta status used to be "feature complete". Beta does not mean "free of bugs"; it is no quality attribute but only about quantity. If there is anything missing from that department, the next release will be an alpha, if not, a beta. In my understanding which I believe is what we all pretty much agree on, beta also doesn't mean feature freeze. It only defines the minimum features that have to ship in R1. If additional features are added that's a bonus, but neither forbidden nor required. That usually means that no big feature will be added, but that doesn't mean it must not happen.
Since package management is the last feature I know of that is supposed to stop the release, the next release should therefore be a beta. If that is up for discussion, we should have that discussion.
Having said all that, I think Marcus raised some interesting points: For who are we doing the release? In addition to that I would also point out that releases feel good for developers and followers even if they usually run the nightlies already and are pretty much unaffected by them (ignoring the fact that they also help defining a target to develop against, and publish software for).
For everyone that is not already using (and following) Haiku regularly a release is a kind of sign of live, and a way to build the trust that this project is going somewhere. And of course, releases help to gauge and nurture the interest other people have in the project.
Bye, Axel.
