Release schedules

[Robert Huff]

cpghost writes:

>  >   next release: when it's done.
>  
>  Actually, it's not so bad that the PRERELEASE phase is so long:
>  in this time, more bugs are being fixed that would have normally
>  been lingering in the pr database.

	The problem is not technical; no one has a problem with the
idea right is better than sooner.
	The problem is administrative: failure to create reasonable
expectations among the general user community, and particularly
failure let people know when those expectations - for necessary and
sufficient reasons - need to change.
	Case at hand: given that 7.1-Beta2 has been pending for (as far
as I can tell) nearly two months (or maybe more) and - based on a
casual reading of current@ - is in no danger of happening soon, the
information at http://www.freebsd.org/releng/index.html about a
November release for 7.1 is clearly a no-op.  Yes, the page says
"approximate" and "subject to slippage".  But those should be
measured against the context of an otherwise realisitic schedule;
"early November" slips to "late November", not "April".
	(If this sees a bit of a hot button ... some of us are flashing
on the many months of "almost got it" that preceded 5.0.)


				Robert Huff