request for your comments on release documentation

[Charles Sprickman]

On Jun 27, 2013, at 7:24 PM, Miroslav Lachman wrote:

> Mark Felder wrote:
>> On Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:49:21 -0500, Hiroki Sato <hrs at freebsd.org> wrote:
> 
> [...]
> 
>>> 3. Is there missing information which should be in the relnotes?
>>> Probably there are some missing items for each release, but this
>>> question is one at some abstraction level. Link to commit log and
>>> diff, detailed description of major incompatible changes, and so
>>> on.
>> 
>> I try to keep up with the development and changes in releases as best I
>> can and I haven't noticed any glaring omissions over the last several
>> releases. I think you're doing a fine job.
>> 
>> Also, is there a reason this isn't a "living" document that can be
>> updated as things get MFC'd to STABLE? It would help take load off your
>> end and maybe speed up release once the freeze has happened and we begin
>> the final grind through release candidates.
> 
> It would be nice if all release related documents (relnotes, errata, hardware notes etc.) will be "living" after release (in online version) and not considered as set in stone. There are sometimes missing items which should be included online as soon as possible, but rarely are.
> 
> For example, I found two issues with OpenSSH in 8.4 release. (bugs or features, or just incompatibilities with older versions) None of them is listed anywhere and I think it is really bad, because one issue can cause sshd not started after upgrade.
> 
> So the online version of these docs should be "living" and updated as some issues and questions arises on the mailing lists and forums few days / weeks after release.

Additionally, it would be nice if the documentation for beta and RCs was posted before the actual release as well.  Just like the OS itself, docs can be "beta" and open for feedback from the community.  It's also nice to know about changes before you upgrade a box for testing as well - for example, the jail changes and zfs version bump in 8.4 were something of a surprise for me (I follow -stable, but not much else).  If the project wants people to test before release, having a list of changes, major and minor to focus on would probably net the project more useful feedback.

I'm also all for the "living" document idea.  It seems like the mailing lists always have a few issues that are documented nowhere else because they don't quite merit a ERRATA notice (eg: dhclient/fxp issue).

Thanks,

Charles

> 
> 
> On the other hand, FreeBSD has good quality of docs included Release Notes. (thank you for your work!)
> If there is some "man power", some items can be more detailed with links to other online resources like FreeBSD wiki, but only for some important items.
> 
> Miroslav Lachman
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