[RFC] Why FreeBSD ports should have branches by OS version

[Matthew Seaman]

On 06/23/17 09:47, demelier.david at gmail.com wrote:
> On Thu, 2017-06-22 at 16:11 -0500, Mark Linimon wrote:
>> On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 12:32:45PM -0400, scratch65535 at att.net wrote:
>>> My problem is that my industry experience tells me that reducing
>>> the frequency of port releases is practically *guaranteed* to be
>>> a Really Good Thing for everyone.
>>
>> I remember before we had the quarterly releases, and people on the
>> mailing lists complained constantly about the ports bits only being
>> available once per release, or rolling with -head.
>>
> 
> Quarterly branches do not solve anything.
> 
> A user installs a machine on March, it uses 2017Q1. Then in April an
> additional software must be installed, as we are in April, 2017Q2 is
> available so two choices:
> 
> a. the user keeps 2017Q1 but won't have any security fixes as it is not
> maintained anymore; possibly having security flaws.
> 
> b. the user switches to 2017Q2, this tree will probably have major
> upgrades and possibly breaking existing stuff.
> 
> To me, quarterly branches are completely useless as they are not
> maintained enough in time. Replacing them with release branches would
> solve everything explained in this thread.

Just responding to a message in this thread at random, and not
specifically directed at the person whose message I'm replying to.

This thread is exactly the sort of sterile argument that the brand new
FCP process was invented to handle.

https://github.com/freebsd/fcp

Read the fcp-0000.md document for details on how the process works.

If sufficient people really do want to change the way the ports are
branched, then write a proposal.  You're going to need to think about it
carefully, and consider the needs of all ports users, not just your own
specific case.  Plus it will need to be achievable with the resources
available.

If you can get enough people behind your proposal to swing a vote by
core, then changes will happen.

	Cheers,

	Matthew

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