Hi all,
I completely missed the Linaro release process session during LDS, but here are my thoughts on the Linaro development cycle.
Currently, the Linaro cycle lags behind the Ubuntu cycle by one month. This is done so that the Linaro releases are based on a stable system.
Unfortunately, this scheme causes some disruption for me (and I suspect for other engineers, too). The problem is that while the current Linaro cycle is still ongoing, we need to start planning for next-cycle/LDS, attend LDS and after that investigate some more and create the specifications. This is hard and time consuming work and I am sure not many people (including me) can continue to work effectively on their remaining work items while drafting specifications or attending LDS. The problem is exacerbated further because the end of cycle is usually a very strenuous period for engineers.
So my questions/suggestions are:
1. Do other engineers feel this way?
2. From people's experience, has the one-month-after-ubuntu schedule provided concrete advantages? Could we get away with less (e.g. one week)?
3. If we don't change anything we should at least make this situation very clear to engineers/managers, so that they can plan accordingly: ~5 months of normal work, starting two weeks after LDS and ending one week before the next LDS. Keep the rest for planning/LDS and spec-ing, plus some light work.
Thoughts?
Thanks, Alexandros