Hi, Releases going forward, or, how do we release without full time paid worker bees? With all the discussion toward the end of last year I suppose that today's e-mail "Timeline and roadmap V2" [1] finally shed light on the inevitable conclusion, the openSUSE team (@SUSE) will spend more time on other stuff and less time, if any, on turning the release crank. This is the team's prerogative just like everyone is free to work on the project, or not, in areas of interest to them. We can argue whether the way this is coming about is giving the project the best chance to succeed or whether the transition is being put worth in a nice and friendly way, but I think we should not go down that path. Thanks! to the openSUSE Team for the hard work they have put forth in the past to turning the release crank, it is much appreciated. I think the time has come to move forward and deal with the new situation. As of right now we still have a release cycle of 8 month. That would put us into May for openSUSE 13.2. This brings about two questions: - Given the current situation can we meet a May release date? - Do we skip the May release and move to a yearly cycle and release 13.2 in November of 2014? During last year's discussions there were a number of people favoring a yearly release cycle. We have to make a decision, - stick to 8 month or move to 12 month? Voice your opinion but stick to the point and please be concise. For simplicity lets just assume that there will be no full time paid help to turn the release crank and that the work is all on those that are not part of the openSUSE Team. Under any circumstances I'd say our first go around will be a bit rough around the edges and that's OK, we have to learn. What do I have to offer? After all stuff will not get done by me sending an e-mail into the world. I offer to take on part of the role of "Release Manager". I will not be able to do all of it and I have a new definition for the role (see below.) Stephan did way more and was always the tireless worker that brought everything together. No one that does not work on openSUSE full time can obviously fulfill that role, thus we have to split things up. I figure there are about 60 to 70 hours worth of work per week that we have to distribute. I'll define "Release Manager" as: The person or group that runs after people, keeps an eye on the schedule and tries to herd the cats to get the stuff fixed that is broken. I am willing to take part of that role, and with this mail hopefully be a rallying point to put openSUSE releases on a bit more of a solid footing than where we are today, after [1]. If we go this route it implies that everyone that has stuff in Factory, what will become the next release, nothing there changes, has more responsibility in helping out than they do today. We no longer have people that can fix everything and get to spend all their time on the distribution and integration of stuff. Every maintainer has more responsibility. So where do we go from here? Do we bootstrap an effort to get a release out the door without openSUSE @SUSE or do we drift along in the uncertainty of "maybe we know something in August"? I am happy to be a rallying point and fulfill part of the role of "Release Manager" as outlined above. Maintainers/Packagers be heard, speak up, but lets not drift into rat holes, the situation is actually quite simple. Later, Robert [1] http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-factory/2014-01/msg00350.html -- Robert Schweikert MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU SUSE-IBM Software Integration Center LINUX Tech Lead Public Cloud Architect rjschwei@suse.com rschweik@ca.ibm.com 781-464-8147 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse-factory+owner@opensuse.org