[U-Boot] U-Boot Versioning

[U-Boot] U-Boot Versioning

[Wolfgang Denk]

Hi,

after some discussions in the past I propose to use the following
numbering scheme for future releases of U-Boot (starting with the
upcoming one):

* Regular releases (about once every two months or so) shall be named
  "YYYY.MM" with YYYY = year as 4 digits, MM = month (01..12)

  In other words:
  	VERSION = year as 4 digits
	PATCHLEVEL = month as 2 digits

  That means the upcoming release, which is scheduled for October
  2008, would be named "2008.10".

* Intermediate releases, that might become necessary because of
  serious bugs or other major problems, shall be indicated by
  incrementing the "SUBLEVEL" field.

  SUBLEVEL = 0 corresponds to the original  release  version  and  is
  usually   omitted,  i.  e.  while  "2008.10"  and  "2008.10.0"  are
  considered to be the same, the normal notation shall  be  "2008.10"
  only. [See "stable trees below"]

  That means, if we should have two intermediate  releases  following
  the normal, scheduled release "2008.10", these would be numbered as
  "2008.10.1" and "2008.10.2", respectively.

* There may be a need to fix problems with older releases, i. e. to
  maintain "stable trees" similar to what Linux is doing. We will use
  the "EXTRAVERSION" field to identify versions in such stable trees.

  So "2008.10.0.y" stands for versions in the stable  tree  branching
  off  the  "2008.10"  release,  and  "2008.10.2.3"  would be the 3rd
  version the stable tree branching off the 2nd intermediate releases
  following release "2008.10".


I think we will most probably not need all this complexity (we didn't
need it in the last 8 years of U-Boot development), but I think  it's
a good idea to be prepared in case anybody asks for it.


To summarise: I intend to name the upcoming release "2008.10".


Are there any important arguments against this versioning scheme ?

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
"If God had wanted us to use the metric system, Jesus would have  had
10 apostles."

[U-Boot] U-Boot Versioning

[Jerry Van Baren]

Wolfgang Denk wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> after some discussions in the past I propose to use the following
> numbering scheme for future releases of U-Boot (starting with the
> upcoming one):
> 
> * Regular releases (about once every two months or so) shall be named
>   "YYYY.MM" with YYYY = year as 4 digits, MM = month (01..12)
> 
>   In other words:
>   	VERSION = year as 4 digits
> 	PATCHLEVEL = month as 2 digits
> 
>   That means the upcoming release, which is scheduled for October
>   2008, would be named "2008.10".

Sounds good to me, although I have a hard time imagining needing four 
levels.  "Be prepared" I guess.  ;-)

[snip]

> Are there any important arguments against this versioning scheme ?

Not from me.

Of course, we need silly alphabetical animal names for "code names." 
No, wait, that's been done before.  I know!  We can use u-boat names for 
the code names.  We can start with the code name "Unterseeboot 1."
   <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U-boats>

;-P

> Best regards,
> Wolfgang Denk

Best regards,
gvb

[U-Boot] U-Boot Versioning

[Leon Woestenberg]

Hello,

On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 11:19 PM, Wolfgang Denk <wd@denx.de> wrote:
> after some discussions in the past I propose to use the following
> numbering scheme for future releases of U-Boot (starting with the
> ...
>  That means the upcoming release, which is scheduled for October
>  2008, would be named "2008.10".
>
> * Intermediate releases, that might become necessary because of
>  serious bugs or other major problems, shall be indicated by
>  incrementing the "SUBLEVEL" field.
> ...

[U-Boot] U-Boot Versioning

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear Jerry Van Baren,

In message <48B87C4D.2060004@gmail.com> you wrote:
>
> Of course, we need silly alphabetical animal names for "code names." 

Do we?

> No, wait, that's been done before.  I know!  We can use u-boat names for 
> the code names.  We can start with the code name "Unterseeboot 1."
>    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U-boats>
> 
> ;-P

Or use colors.

The next release will then be the Yellow Submarine :)

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
I have the simplest tastes.  I am always satisfied with the best.
                                                       -- Oscar Wilde

[U-Boot] U-Boot Versioning

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear Leon,

In message <c384c5ea0808291553l21e00c6eg37f229cea0112be1@mail.gmail.com> you wrote:
> 
> > * Intermediate releases, that might become necessary because of
> >  serious bugs or other major problems, shall be indicated by
> >  incrementing the "SUBLEVEL" field.
> > ...
> From experience with other open-source projects:
> 
> I would remove this level, and use the third level for stable branch
> bugfixes releases instead.

This was my original intention, too. But there were a couple of people
asking for ways to do hot fix releases if things were terribly broken.

> It is very unlikely to release feature-upgrade releases within one month/

Not feature upgrades; urgent bug fixes.


Frankly, I don't think that we need more than the regular, plain
releases. But some of us are customer-driven, so both stable trees and
bug fix releases may become necessary, and the suggested scheme allows
for both.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
Q: What do you get when you cross an ethernet with an income statement?
A: A local area networth.

[U-Boot] U-Boot Versioning

[Luigi 'Comio' Mantellini]

Il sabato 30 agosto 2008 01:12:31 Wolfgang Denk ha scritto:
> Dear Jerry Van Baren,
>
> In message <48B87C4D.2060004@gmail.com> you wrote:
> > Of course, we need silly alphabetical animal names for "code names."
>
> Do we?
>
> > No, wait, that's been done before.  I know!  We can use u-boat names for
> > the code names.  We can start with the code name "Unterseeboot 1."
> >    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U-boats>
> >
> > ;-P
>
> Or use colors.
>
> The next release will then be the Yellow Submarine :)

Anyway give a name to the realeases is good idea.

my2eurocents

luigi

>
> Best regards,
>
> Wolfgang Denk

-- 
Luigi Mantellini
R&D - Software
Industrie Dial Face S.p.A.
Via Canzo, 4
20068 Peschiera Borromeo (MI), Italy
Tel.:  +39 02 5167 2813
Fax:   +39 02 5167 2459
Email: luigi.mantellini at idf-hit.com

[U-Boot] U-Boot Versioning

[Robert Schwebel]

On Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 01:12:31AM +0200, Wolfgang Denk wrote:
> Or use colors.
> 
> The next release will then be the Yellow Submarine :)

We've also considered to name toolchain releases after food. So for
example if gcc-4.3.2 would be spagetti, binutils-2.18 would be tomatos,
glibc-2.8 would be mincemeat; so a release from these components could
be called the "spagetty bolognese" release, which would definitely be
better than gcc-4.3.2-glibc-2.8-kernel-2.6.26-arm-v4t-linux-gnueabi.

The problem comes up if you upgrade binutils to the 2.19 "pickled
herring" revision. The resulting toolchain could have some compatiblity
issues with our users then :)

rsc
-- 
 Dipl.-Ing. Robert Schwebel | http://www.pengutronix.de
 Pengutronix - Linux Solutions for Science and Industry
   Handelsregister:  Amtsgericht Hildesheim, HRA 2686
     Hannoversche Str. 2, 31134 Hildesheim, Germany
   Phone: +49-5121-206917-0 |  Fax: +49-5121-206917-9

[U-Boot] U-Boot Versioning

[Luigi 'Comio' Mantellini]

Il luned? 01 settembre 2008 17:54:08 Robert Schwebel ha scritto:
> On Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 01:12:31AM +0200, Wolfgang Denk wrote:
> > Or use colors.
> >
> > The next release will then be the Yellow Submarine :)
>
> We've also considered to name toolchain releases after food. So for
> example if gcc-4.3.2 would be spagetti, binutils-2.18 would be tomatos,
> glibc-2.8 would be mincemeat; so a release from these components could
> be called the "spagetty bolognese" release, which would definitely be
> better than gcc-4.3.2-glibc-2.8-kernel-2.6.26-arm-v4t-linux-gnueabi.
>

good idea... but I would like to clarify that we (italians) don't eat 
Spaghetti with Bolognese but we prefer to use Tagliatelle or Tortellini or 
Ravioli pasta, and the Sugo Bolognese's ingredients are:
  - Onion
  - Olive Oil (Extra-virgin!)
  - Celery
  - Carrot
  - Wine
  - (little bit) milk (if you want)
  - minced meet (beef)
  - (litte bit) lard or bacon (if you want)
  - tomato
  - a lot of time

Using the Sugo alla Bolognese we can give a name for each file of the 
toolchain...

ciao

luigi


> The problem comes up if you upgrade binutils to the 2.19 "pickled
> herring" revision. The resulting toolchain could have some compatiblity
> issues with our users then :)
>
> rsc

-- 
Luigi Mantellini
R&D - Software
Industrie Dial Face S.p.A.
Via Canzo, 4
20068 Peschiera Borromeo (MI), Italy
Tel.:  +39 02 5167 2813
Fax:   +39 02 5167 2459
Email: luigi.mantellini at idf-hit.com

[U-Boot] U-Boot Versioning

[Robert Schwebel]

On Tue, Sep 02, 2008 at 09:37:04AM +0200, Luigi 'Comio' Mantellini wrote:
> good idea... but I would like to clarify that we (italians) don't eat 
> Spaghetti with Bolognese but we prefer to use Tagliatelle or Tortellini or 
> Ravioli pasta, and the Sugo Bolognese's ingredients are:
>   - Onion
>   - Olive Oil (Extra-virgin!)
>   - Celery
>   - Carrot
>   - Wine
>   - (little bit) milk (if you want)
>   - minced meet (beef)
>   - (litte bit) lard or bacon (if you want)
>   - tomato

Well, that surely qualifies for the releases for the next couple of
years.

>   - a lot of time

Uuuh, that's not so easy. Code incredients tend to rot quickly when not
being served freshly from a rcs repository.

> Using the Sugo alla Bolognese we can give a name for each file of the
> toolchain...

So it might be an innovative model, thanks, we'll reconsider! 8-)

rsc
-- 
 Dipl.-Ing. Robert Schwebel | http://www.pengutronix.de
 Pengutronix - Linux Solutions for Science and Industry
   Handelsregister:  Amtsgericht Hildesheim, HRA 2686
     Hannoversche Str. 2, 31134 Hildesheim, Germany
   Phone: +49-5121-206917-0 |  Fax: +49-5121-206917-9