release schedule and Linux distros

[Chris Dornan]

Jens Petersen:

> I think at least Ubuntu and Fedora are basically on time-based release
schedules. ... 
> [I]t would be advantageous for the Haskell community using Linux systems
if 
> the Platform schedule could be made better for Linux users

I see no need for the ' using Linux systems' qualification here -- surely
everybody benefits from a better-coordinated release 
schedule.
 
Assuming the Ubuntu release cycle fits with the Fedora release cycle, is
there any reason not to do what Jens is proposing? These being the principle
mass-market Linux distros it makes sense to target these, and the MacOS and
Windows releases don't appear to have any external co-ordination points.

What's not to like!

(There are a few assumptions here -- please correct if any look iffy.)

I don't understand the change that is being proposed with the source/binary
releases. Because the MacOS and Windows binary releases can be matched with
the general release doesn't it make good sense for them to coordinate their
binary releases around the general platform release -- as long as we have
the good fortune to have the release people capable and willing to do this.

Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: haskell-platform-bounces at projects.haskell.org
[mailto:haskell-platform-bounces at projects.haskell.org] On Behalf Of 
Sent: 07 June 2012 07:56
To: haskell-platform
Subject: release schedule and Linux distros

Hi,

For a while I have been feeling that Linux distros seem to be at a bit of a
disadvantage compared to Windows and MacOS for Haskell Platfom releases.

Since distros ship a lot more Haskell packages than just Platform, updating
haskell-platform is a major task for us...

I think at least Ubuntu and Fedora are basically on time-based release
schedules.  In particular Ubuntu releases twice a year in April and October
and the Fedora Project normally releases roughly a month later [1].  Not
sure if this applies as much to Debian as well, but at least Ubuntu and
Fedora are two of the major Linux distros so it would be advantageous for
the Haskell community using Linux systems if the Platform schedule could be
made better for Linux users to give distros a better chance of shipping a
recent release.

So I am wondering now what would be the optimal time for Haskell Platform
releases say for Ubuntu?  Given that Fedora generally releases after Ubuntu
- a date that works well for Ubuntu would probably work well for Fedora too.

For example looking at the coming Fedora 18 development cycle [2] the Alpha
freeze is currently 2012-08-14 and Beta freeze is set for 2012-09-18.
So for Fedora at least, if we wanted to have ghc-7.4.2+ and Haskell Platform
2012.4 in the next release (we just released Fedora 17 with
haskell-platform-2011.4...), then I think we would need the final
2012.4 release in August and an alpha/beta release in July.  I imagine the
cut-off dates for Ubuntu might be roughly a month earlier say, but hopefully
the Ubuntu people can chime in on their thoughts too?

Otherwise at least for the Fedora 18 release in November probably we will
just stick with ghc-7.4.1 and HP 2012.2 to follow the stable platform.  The
current HP schedule of a final in November is really too late for Fedora 18
and Ubuntu 12.10, but maybe okay for Fedora 19 and Ubuntu 13.04: though that
is quite a lag, which is the problem I am trying to highlight in this mail.

If others have thoughts or ideas for improving the turnaround time for Linux
Haskell Platform and making Linux more of a first class HP citzen, I would
be interested to hear them.

Personally I would favour maybe decoupling the HP source and binary releases
completely, and also doing more regular developmental HP releases between
the stable ones to make it a more continuous opensource process.

Jens

[1] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/HistoricalSchedules
[2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/18/Schedule

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