On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 8:34 AM, Andreas Jaeger <aj@novell.com> wrote:
We had this week a discussion on IRC on how to name the next release and I took the action item to do a poll on connect.opensuse.org now to help us solve the naming of openSUSE distribution releases.
openSUSE does not have a major and minor numbering, even if it seems so. There is right now no difference in any way between what we would do for openSUSE 11.4 or 12.0 - and no sense to speak about openSUSE 11 or openSUSE 11 family. We also have no process on how to name the next release (when to increase which parts of the number).
Here are some options, if I miss some, please tell me and I will then soon setup a poll. I'm listening the next version we would use as well as how the following would be called as an example. Remember we have releases every 8 months, so the next releases are: November 2011, July 2012, March 2013, November 2013, July 2014, March 2015.
Options: 1. "old school": The same we do right now but let's decide when to change the right number: we count it always until 3. Next release is 12.0. Following releases: 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 13.0
Looks nice, it's something people are familiar with, requires no changes and we get to keep our identity. I think this is cool.
2. "Fedora style": Just integers. Next release is: 12 Following release: 13, 14, 15
Though we have a longer release cycle, eventually could make people believe we're staying behind. Dubbed Fedora 'copy cats' isn't really cool. On the long run... we will stay behind and I'm wondering what it will trigger on users perceptions.
3. "Mandriva style": YYYY.counter (4 digit year, counter starts a 0) Next release is: 2011.1 Following releases: 2012.0, 2013.0, 2013.1, 2014.0, 2015.1
If we could extend our release to one year, this could be a very interesting option. In 9 months cycles, I'm not really sure we would have something cool coming out of this.
4. "Ubuntu style": YY.MM (2 digit year, 2 digit month) Next release is: 11.11 Following releases: 12.07, 13.03, 13.11, 14.07, 15.03
Not something I like.
5. "Ubuntu style variation": YYYY-MM (4 digit year, 2 digit month) Next release is: 2011-11 Following releases are: 2012-07, 2013-03, 2013-11, 2014-07, 2015-03
A mix of Mandriva and Ubuntu... way too complex and most people will not get it, plus enourmous efforts to rely on Marketing.
6. "octal": Coolo came up with calling the next release "o 12" and then proposed to go octal (so 012). We decided to start with 012 even if that 10 in decimal. Next release is: 012 Following releases: 013, 014, 015, 016, 017, 020
I don't think many users will like this. It's at least strange.
7. "Seasons": "Season YYYY" since March is in spring, July in summer, and November is in autumn. Next release is: Autumn 2011 Following releases: Summer 2012, Spring 2013, Autumn 2013, Summer 2014
Anything else I should add to the list above?
Yes please... No numbers, just a code name. Forget the movies and other intellectual property... I would probably use Norse Mythology which is a testament to our German roots... Something like: openSUSE Freya, openSUSE Balder, openSUSE Wooden, openSUSE Thor, etc. We could get names for many releases... being my favourite: openSUSE Valhalla :) Or any other theme free of DMCA/Intellectual Rights. And we could keep the numbers as internal management only. For example to continue manage our versioning through OBS/Zypper. This kind of solution would differenciate us from all the other distributions, would eventually not confuse users and better, would allow very interesting choices for artwork and marketing matherials. Just a thought... NM
Andreas -- Andreas Jaeger, Program Manager openSUSE, aj@{novell.com,opensuse.org} Twitter: jaegerandi | Identica: jaegerandi SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg) Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 Nürnberg, Germany GPG fingerprint = 93A3 365E CE47 B889 DF7F FED1 389A 563C C272 A126 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org
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