[asterisk-dev] merge policies, supported branches, API/ABI freeze (was Re: Asterisk 1.6 Release Management Proposal)

[Luigi Rizzo]

On Thu, Oct 18, 2007 at 12:03:21PM -0500, Russell Bryant wrote:
> Luigi Rizzo wrote:
> > === First item: merging policy ===
...
> > New code should be tested in trunk, and pushed down after appropriate
> > testing. The amount of delay may change depending on the type of
> > fix/feature, but instant commits should be the exception not the
> > norm, probably confined to security issues only.
> 
> I guess the way I have looked at it is that if a bug fix is significant enough
> that it deserves additional testing attention, then it should go into a
> developer branch while being tested.  Once the fix is deemed ready, it would be
...
> I guess we both agree that there should be some sort of buffer before changes
> make it into a release.  I have just seen the developer branch area the place
> for that, and that stuff shouldn't get into trunk (or 1.4) until it's "ready".

The problem is that developer branches are rarely if ever run by
someone else than their creator.  This is not just asterisk - even
larger projects try and use a single branch (i.e. trunk) for testing
things. This is the only way to expose the code to a suitable number
of compiler/hardware/environment variants and be more confident on
the absence of ill side effects.

Developer branches do have many purposes, but the testing-for-production
is not one of them.

cheers
luigi