LWN: Comments on "Fedora 11 release schedule set"

Cross-compilers

proski — 2008-12-07T05:48:22+00:00

It would be really nice to have several cross-compilers packaged for popular architectures, such as PowerPC, ARM, SPARC, MIPS. I know, there is a cross-compiler for ARM, but it's named in a confusing way and took me time to be found.

Fedora 11 release schedule set

tajyrink — 2008-12-05T07:43:40+00:00

I'm not sure which factors actually play a role in the release planning, but currently it seems Fedora is again releasing quite late in the spring. The interesting point here is IMHO that Fedora is _so_ cutting edge it already has features in Fedora 10 which others use only in their next spring's release. GEM and even KMS in Fedora 10! KMS will be in the 2.6.29 at earliest officially, but if Fedora does all the hard work again others have more easy time to backport KMS too.

I can imagine Fedora 11 to perhaps have eg. Gallium architecture, while possibly Mesa 7.4 will be released with traditional DRI, but now with GEM support for the "rest of the gang". Of course Fedora 10 already has Mesa snapshot with GEM support (or is it the Intel's 2008q3 branch). Again Gallium would certainly be something that is very, very leading edge where others don't probably have the resources or the talent to actually implement in a supported release before next autumn.

It's no wonder there are delays in Fedora schedules, among other reasons, since such a leading edge features are not as predictable as using mostly stable releases or at least pre-releases with known schedules. I just hope they also consider the stability, since it'd be sad for Fedora to lose users because of being too cutting edge.

(btw, is it here where the zillions of other-distro fanboys referred in the other, longer comments thread were supposed to be)

Fedora 11 release schedule set

sbergman27 — 2008-12-05T01:34:07+00:00

It looks like a good plan. As a Fedora user, I think that Fedora really *belongs* at the head of the queue for the traditional Spring and Fall distro release-fest. Most of the distros these days are pretty cutting edge, and the current positioning leaves what is nominally Linux's most cutting edge distro seeming a bit behind on release day. On the other hand, RHEL6 is already going to break the stated policy of 18 to 24 month release cycles by a substantial amount. So as a CentOS admin, I'm a bit frustrated that some of my (XDMCP desktop) users are going to be stuck with the equivalent of Fedora Core 6 for another year. (And am also waiting for a window in which I can side-grade some of my current Fedora users to CentOS.) So whatever it takes to get RHEL6 released is fine with me. If we can get everything back on track in another 10 - 12 months, I think that's about the best that can be done and still cover all the bases.

I really wish there were a RH-centric, middle of the road distro, with a predictable 12 month release cycle, and about 25-30 months of update support. Mr. Santa, bring me a dream. ;-)