From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1758629Ab3KJENt (ORCPT ); Sat, 9 Nov 2013 23:13:49 -0500 Received: from linux-libre.fsfla.org ([208.118.235.54]:39311 "EHLO linux-libre.fsfla.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1758588Ab3KJENs (ORCPT ); Sat, 9 Nov 2013 23:13:48 -0500 From: Alexandre Oliva To: Linus Torvalds Cc: Linux Kernel Mailing List Subject: Re: Linux 3.12 released .. and no merge window yet .. and 4.0 plans? In-Reply-To: (Linus Torvalds's message of "Sun, 3 Nov 2013 16:10:59 -0800") Organization: Free thinker, not speaking for the GNU Project References: User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.2 (gnu/linux) Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 02:13:20 -0200 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Nov 3, 2013, Linus Torvalds wrote: > we'll have 4.0 follow 3.19 or something like that. > we could do a release with just stability and bug-fixes > the reason I mention "4.0" is that it would be a lovely time to do > that. That sounds backwards. .0s are known for instability and major new features that justify the major version number bump. A fixes-only release would make more sense as a last breath of the 3.* series, before (or even after?) 4.0 comes out. One way this might work is with a shorter release cycle after 3.19, with a fixes-only merge window, which would lead to a shorter stabilization cycle than usual, a rock-solid 3.20 release at the end of that cycle, during which new features would presumably have piled up for longer than usual, so as to make for more new features in the subsequent merge window, which would then justify a bump to 4.0. The shorter cycle towards 3.20, which would make the 2 cycles towards 4.0 shorter than two usual cycles, may help relieve some of the pressure to get features into 3.19, since the merge window for 4.0 won't be that far off. -- Alexandre Oliva, freedom fighter http://FSFLA.org/~lxoliva/ You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Gandhi Be Free! -- http://FSFLA.org/ FSF Latin America board member Free Software Evangelist Red Hat Brazil Compiler Engineer