Re: [RFC] Versioning rules for PHP/Zend/PEAR/Extensions

At 21:12 25-09-01, Stig Sæther Bakken wrote:

[Zeev Suraski <zeev@zend.com>] At 03:12 25-09-01, Jim Winstead wrote:

and i do question, a little bit, how successful our new release strategy is when we only seem to be able to muster a new release every three months. but maybe that's a pace we're happy with. and of course, that has way more to do with a great many more issues than how we number the releases. :)

As a matter of fact, one of the most serious complaints I've been hearing from people is that we release way too often. Among others, that makes ISPs mad at us, since it's a logistical nightmare to keep current. And guess why? Because a new PHP release also carries with it a whole Tampa-load of new or changed extensions. Some of these extensions have non-BC changes (as with the recent domxml bruhaha), others have bugs fixed while some just rot. That's your logistical nightmare right there. :-)

Very true, but that's just a partial part of the problem. It implies that if it wasn't for those BC breaking changes, it would have been easy, but that's true only if you have one or two servers. With lots of servers, it's a big headache even if backwards compatibility is, God forbid, kept. :)

One of the reasons Jani went ahead and proposed the versioning standard is to prepare ourselves for "operation extension detach". How do you version extensions that we bundle today? The only way right now is to use the PHP version. So we should start versioning each extension preparing for independent existence. Then we need a ruleset like Jani proposes.

I think that regardless of anything, adding a standard version information to the extension structure is a good idea. It's a pity we haven't done that in 4.0.7, as this is a version where we put in *lots* compatibility breaking changes in the module API.

But just to get back to release frequency, I do think we release too seldom. There's a lot of process in place now, with a QA branch and all. I think this process is good, but it's congesting. At this point we're almost ready to start the 4.0.8 release before 4.0.7 is through the needle's eye. There's simply too much weight. For every extension we shake off, it the release process gets lighter, and some ISP sysadmins may even get their hair back.

My bottom line is that I don't think we release too seldom - a release every 3 months is a fairly good pace in my opinion. I do think that the RC cycle may be taking too long, and in this particular case, I think I bare most of the fault. I lost most of my focus ever since the WTC went up in flames. However, note that a huge bug was found only after RC2, weeks into the RC process - completely broken thread safety mode, thanks to yours truly... Zeev