Fedora 12 Graphics Issues: Cancel F13 and concentrate on fixing F12 ?

Ok, controversial title.

I have just tried to test install F12 on some of my systems, (5 different ones).
All of these bar 1 has problems with the graphics (X11 lockups, system lockups
and other problems) mainly in 3D but also in 2D.
I still am using F8 on most of my systems as the Graphics systems have not
been stable enough for 3D in Fedora since around those times.

I know there is a lot of work going on in the graphics front, I myself
have worked on and fed back issues as time and ability allow. During F11
I helped with some issues, but unfortunately none of these made it back into
updates for F11 and now F12 is out with yet more issues.

The Linux kernel is generally relatively stable, as is the main system
libraries etc in Fedora. The core issues most people seem to be facing is
Graphics and Sound issues. Obviously a major issue with Graphics is the
sheer
number of different graphics chip sets in use and the lack of documentation
for quite a few of them. Due to this it requires a lot of user testing and
feedback to get these issues sorted out. Unfortunately the very fast
Fedora new release schedule gets in the way of getting this testing done
and things do not get fixed prior to a new release which introduces yet
another set of problems. The new release speed also uses a lot of
developer and user time in just managing to create a new release and
updating systems to use it.

I know the quick release cycle is one of Fedora's features in its aim to
be close to the leading edge, but this has to be balanced with usability
otherwise there will be few people actually using it in anger and thus
actually testing the software. This could lead to the demise of Fedora.

As an idea, at this stage, how about canceling the F13 release and just
fixing and updating the F12 release ? This will concentrate developers and
users into one system release. Similar to the pre-release test days we
could have
post-release test days. For example a Graphics test day for F12 where
a certain set of tests with a test suite and a set of well known applications
could be run. As F12 would be out longer, more people could participate in this.
If a commitment, all round, to producing updates fixing the issues in F12
were made, I think more people would be willing to participate as users
could
expect to see a stable system for their efforts.


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