Walther is basically right [LWN.net]

Walther is basically right

Posted Mar 10, 2005 17:59 UTC (Thu) by dwheeler (guest, #1216)
Parent article: The 2005 Debian Project Leader election

I think Walther is basically right; there needs to be a speedier release cycle for Debian. The current process is completely broken for desktops and even for many servers. Anything that takes 3 years to release is completely broken.

One reason people flock to Ubuntu is because they're doing more rapid releases. I think Red Hat has the basic idea right: two distribution lines, one released more rapidly (to increase functionality and speed bug fixing), then use that to create something that is released much more slowly.

I'd say there needs to be an intermediate step between "stable" and "testing" -- something that's released on a 6-month schedule that receives some distribution-wide testing, but not the insane delay of "stable".

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Walther is basically right

Posted Mar 12, 2005 18:59 UTC (Sat) by Zomb (subscriber, #23391) [Link]

walters does not provide anything specific, he brings only hot vapor and the old "should be 6months" term stolen from Ubuntu/BSDs (but not easily adaptable here).
There is no clear solution but a promising way is to build a leader council (which is beeing brought up together right now, but without walters, thanks god).

Walther is basically right

Posted Mar 15, 2005 22:12 UTC (Tue) by piman (subscriber, #8957) [Link]

Not Walters, but Walther. Colin Walters is a well-respected developer (and not running for DPL). I suspect Jonathan Walther may be the first DD to rank below "None of the above" on the election results.

Walther is basically right

Posted Mar 16, 2005 11:09 UTC (Wed) by jstAusr (guest, #27224) [Link]

To say that "Anything that takes 3 years to release is completely broken." when referring to the Debian distribution, would be similar (not exactly the same as) to saying your writings are completely wrong. Your comments show a lack of understanding of the subject. Anyone connected to the internet has several options if they prefer not to use the stable release including; testing, unstable, backports, and partial upgrades. For those not connected to the internet, things wouldn't be as good but they could still get a set of CDs made from testing, and its not like stable isn't functional. After the next Debian release, the processes that will be in place, will cause all your concerns to basically go away. Debian doesn't need to have six month releases, they need to be a great distribution and have more people understand the goals of the project.

Walther is basically right

Posted Mar 16, 2005 18:22 UTC (Wed) by piman (subscriber, #8957) [Link]

> its not like stable isn't functional.

Unless you want to run recent hardware. If you're lucky you can get enough installed to upgrade right away; if you're unlucky you end up with an unsupported hard drive or network adapter.

> After the next Debian release, the processes that will be in place, will cause all your concerns to basically go away.

We have all heard this before (testing was going to do it, for example). I think the new process will help, but it is not a magic bullet, and there definitely need to be more changes.

Debian doesn't need 6 month releases, to be sure. That's ridiculously fast for servers. But like Joey Hess said recently, at this rate, Debian is going to manage two releases in ten years. That's unacceptable for everyone.