[Python-Dev] PEP 407: New release cycle and introducing long-term support versions

[Georg Brandl]

Am 18.01.2012 16:25, schrieb Stephen J. Turnbull:
> Antoine Pitrou writes:
> 
>  > You claim people won't use stable releases because of not enough
>  > alphas?  That sounds completely unrelated.
> 
> Surely testing is related to user perceptions of stability.  More
> testing helps reduce bugs in released software, which improves user
> perception of stability, encouraging them to use the software in
> production.  Less testing, then, will have the opposite effect.  But
> you understand that theory, I'm sure.  So what do you mean to say?
> 
>  > (you can produce flimsy software with many alphas, too)
> 
> The problem is the converse: can you produce Python-release-quality
> software with much less pre-release testing than current feature
> releases get?
>
>  > Sure, and we think it is [possible to do that] :)
> 
> Given the relative risk of rejecting PEP 407 and me being wrong (the
> status quo really isn't all that bad AFAICS), vs. accepting PEP 407
> and you being wrong, I don't find a smiley very convincing.

"The status quo really isn't all that bad" applies to any PEP.  Also,
compared to most PEPs, it is quite easy to revert to the previous
state of things if they don't work out as wanted.

> In fact,
> I don't find the PEP itself convincing -- and I'm not the only one.

That is noted.  And I think Antoine was a little harsh earlier; of
course we also need to convince users that the new cycle is
advantageous and not detrimental.

> We'll see what Barry and Georg have to say.

Two things:

a) The release manager's job is not as bad as you might believe.  We
have an incredibly helpful and active core of developers which means
that the RM job is more or less "reduced" to pronouncing on changes
during the rc phase, and actually producing the releases.

b) I did not have the impression (maybe someone can underline that
with tracker stats?) that there were a lot more bug reports than
usual during the alpha and early beta stages of Python 3.2.

Georg