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Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 10:51:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: Lowell Gilbert <lowell@world.std.com>
Sender: lowell@heart-of-gold.ironbridgenetworks.com
Reply-To: Lowell Gilbert <lowell@world.std.com>
To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@freebsd.org
Subject: release vs stable vs current
X-Send-Pr-Version: 3.2

>Number:         11028
>Category:       docs
>Synopsis:       new text for FAQ to explain branches
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       low
>Responsible:    nik
>State:          closed
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:  
>Class:          change-request
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Thu Apr  8 08:00:01 PDT 1999
>Closed-Date:    Sat May 29 06:02:27 PDT 1999
>Last-Modified:  Sat May 29 06:02:51 PDT 1999
>Originator:     Lowell Gilbert
>Release:        FreeBSD 3.1-STABLE i386
>Organization:
myself
>Environment:

current FAQ.

>Description:

There's been a lot of newbie confusion about the terms "release"
"stable" and "current" lately.  Here's some new text for the FAQ to
help eliminate this confusion.


>How-To-Repeat:

Read -questions?  :-)

>Fix:

[This probably isn't an optimal description either, but it's an
improvement.  The real trick would be to make clear the distinction
between a -stable release, like 3.1-R, and the -stable code tree; in
particular, making this clear to someone who's never used a source
code control system of any sort.  A lot of confusion is caused by the
common use on the mailing lists of references to "3.1-STABLE", which
is (pedantically) really more like "3-STABLE".]


*** preface.sgml        Sat Mar 27 10:48:06 1999
--- preface.sgml.new    Wed Apr  7 13:29:52 1999
***************
*** 95,100 ****
--- 95,110 ----
        <p>Briefly explained, <em/-stable/ is aimed at the ISP or other
        corporate user who wants stability and a low change count over
        the wizzy new features of the latest <em/-current/ snapshot.
+       Releases can come from either "branch," but you should only use
+       <em/-current/ if you're sure that you're prepared for its
+       relative instability (relative to <em/-stable/, that is).
+ 
+       <p>Releases are only made <ref id="release_freq" name="every few
+       months">. While many people stay more up-to-date with the
+       FreeBSD sources (see the questions on <ref id="current"
+       name="FreeBSD-current"> and <ref id="stable"
+       name="FreeBSD-stable">) than that, doing so is more of a
+       commitment, as the sources are a moving target.
  
      <sect1>
        <heading>What is FreeBSD-current?<label id="current"></heading>
***************
*** 147,153 ****
        branches.
  
      <sect1>
!       <heading>What is the FreeBSD-stable concept?</heading>
  
        <p>Back when FreeBSD 2.0.5 was released, we decided to branch FreeBSD
        development into two parts.  One branch was named <url
--- 157,163 ----
        branches.
  
      <sect1>
!       <heading>What is the FreeBSD-stable concept?<label id="stable"></heading>
  
        <p>Back when FreeBSD 2.0.5 was released, we decided to branch FreeBSD
        development into two parts.  One branch was named <url
***************
*** 196,202 ****
        with the first 4.0 releases appearing in Q1 2000.
  
      <sect1>
!       <heading>When are FreeBSD releases made?</heading>
  
        <p>As a general principle, the FreeBSD core team only release a new
        version of FreeBSD when they believe that there are sufficient new
--- 206,212 ----
        with the first 4.0 releases appearing in Q1 2000.
  
      <sect1>
!       <heading>When are FreeBSD releases made?<label id="release_freq"></heading>
  
        <p>As a general principle, the FreeBSD core team only release a new
        version of FreeBSD when they believe that there are sufficient new

>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:

From: "Matthew D. Fuller" <fullermd@futuresouth.com>
To: Lowell Gilbert <lowell@world.std.com>
Cc: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: docs/11028: release vs stable vs current
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 17:48:38 -0500

 On Thu, Apr 08, 1999 at 10:51:49AM -0400, a little birdie told me
 that Lowell Gilbert remarked
 > 
 > [This probably isn't an optimal description either, but it's an
 > improvement.  The real trick would be to make clear the distinction
 > between a -stable release, like 3.1-R, and the -stable code tree; in
 > particular, making this clear to someone who's never used a source
 > code control system of any sort.  A lot of confusion is caused by the
 > common use on the mailing lists of references to "3.1-STABLE", which
 > is (pedantically) really more like "3-STABLE".]
 
 Side note: I've always prefered that way; I still refer to the systems
 here as 2.2-STABLE, since they're along the -STABLE 2.2 branch.  Naming
 them after the latest release along the branch always seemed rather
 counter-intuitive and strange to me.  I understand the reasoning behind
 it, but I still prefer the branch designation.
 
 
 > *** preface.sgml        Sat Mar 27 10:48:06 1999
 > --- preface.sgml.new    Wed Apr  7 13:29:52 1999
 > ***************
 > *** 95,100 ****
 > --- 95,110 ----
 >         <p>Briefly explained, <em/-stable/ is aimed at the ISP or other
 >         corporate user who wants stability and a low change count over
 >         the wizzy new features of the latest <em/-current/ snapshot.
 > +       Releases can come from either "branch," but you should only use
 > +       <em/-current/ if you're sure that you're prepared for its
 > +       relative instability (relative to <em/-stable/, that is).
 
 I dislike the term 'instability' here.  Perhaps something more along
 the lines of 'increased volatility'...?
 
 
 
 ---
 
 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
 | Matthew Fuller              http://www.over-yonder.net/ |
 * fullermd@futuresouth.com       fullermd@over-yonder.net *
 | UNIX Systems Administrator      Specializing in FreeBSD |
 *   FutureSouth Communications   ISPHelp ISP Consulting   *
 |  "The only reason I'm burning my candle at both ends,   |
 *    is because I haven't figured out how to light the    *
 |                     middle yet"                         |
 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
 
Responsible-Changed-From-To: freebsd-doc->nik 
Responsible-Changed-By: nik 
Responsible-Changed-When: Fri May 28 16:54:12 PDT 1999 
Responsible-Changed-Why:  
Grabbed it. 
State-Changed-From-To: open->closed 
State-Changed-By: nik 
State-Changed-When: Sat May 29 06:02:27 PDT 1999 
State-Changed-Why:  
Committed, thanks. 
>Unformatted:
