[tahoe-dev] when will we release Tahoe-LAFS v1.6?

[Zooko O'Whielacronx]

Dear all:

On ticket #776 David-Sarah offered to submit some patches for
Tahoe-LAFS usability issues, and asked: "is there a target date for
the 1.6 release?".

Let's see, I really want to get a new stable release out as soon as
possible.  Tahoe-LAFS v1.6 is overdue -- v1.5 was released August 1,
2009 according to The Parade of Release Notes [1].  I would prefer to
release a new stable release every three months.

However, I don't want to release a new version of Tahoe-LAFS without
closing #778 (which is currently blocked on me reviewing Kevan's
latest patch), #833 (which nobody has volunteered to fix), and #830
(which is waiting for me (or someone) to do it).

Another consideration is that I would really like to get a new stable
release of Tahoe-LAFS into Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx).  The Lucid will
be a Long-Term-Support release and we will have to interoperate with
and support the version of Tahoe-LAFS in Lucid for many years -- at
least five years and possibly longer.  Currently Ubuntu has Tahoe-LAFS
1.5.0, and if we don't convince them to upgrade to a newer version of
Tahoe-LAFS before they release Lucid then we'll be stuck with
Tahoe-LAFS 1.5.0.

Here is what I know about the Ubuntu Lucid process: schedule: [2],
policy: [3], pretty picture: [4].

Also I asked on the #ubuntu-motu IRC channel when we would need to
submit a new version of Tahoe-LAFS in order to have a reasonable
chance of getting into Lucid.  I got this reply from IRC user
"persia": "For best results, you want to make sure it gets uploaded
(to Ubuntu or Debian) by 28th January, and I'd recommend giving at
least a few days for upload delays, so trying to do something by the
20th or so."

That reminds me that I also want to get Tahoe-LAFS v1.6 into Debian.
I don't think Debian has a schedule the way Ubuntu has, but it does
have this plan: [5].

Now there are a few reasons why Brian and I aren't going to have very
much time to work on 1.6 in the coming weeks:

1.  We're supposed to prepare a presentation on Tahoe-LAFS for the RSA
2010 conference and materials (i.e. slides) are due January 15.
2.  I'm about to start a new job at a startup named SimpleGeo.  Very
exciting!  But it means I'll have only a few hours now and then to
hack on Tahoe-LAFS.
3.  Brian might also get a job.  Let's hope not.  ;-)

So I think what this adds up to is that we need more volunteers!  If
you can spend an hour reviewing patches from the 1.6.0 Milestone [6],
reviewing patches that have been committed to trunk by Brian, or
editing the docs or writing new docs to address the various
documentation issues that have been mentioned on the list and on the
trac, then by all means, jump in!  We would love to have your help.

If you are the operator of a buildslave, then please check whether
your buildslave is connecting to the buildmaster and passing all unit
tests.

Thanks!

Regards,

Zooko

http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/ticket/776#comment:6
http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/ticket/778# "shares of happiness" is
the wrong measure; "servers of happiness" is better
http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/ticket/830# review Brian's patches for #607
http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/ticket/833# reject mutable children
when *reading* an immutable dirnode

[1] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/wiki/Doc
[2] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LucidReleaseSchedule
[3] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS
[4] http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MOCs5B8LekE/SxKU3Cu7yeI/AAAAAAAAAWo/KdnCYyXoFEs/s1600/lucid-timeline_farver.jpg
[5] http://release.debian.org/emails/release-update-200908
[6] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/roadmap