Updated 6.9/7.0 schedule

[Kevin E Martin]

As noted in earlier e-mail discussions, we are continuing work toward a
combined 6.9/7.0 release of the monolithic tree (6.9) and the modular
tree (7.0).  There are two major tasks to finishing the 6.9/7.0 release.
First, the initial development of the modular tree needs to be completed
and, second, we need to stabilize the trees for release.

Much of the initial development is already complete in the modular tree
for the proto and lib modules, and the xserver, driver and font modules
are nearing completion.  Much hard work has been done to get us this far
and we are confident that the remaining pieces will be in place shortly.
Here is an updated schedule for completing the initial development of
the specific modules:

  24 Jun 2005: lib, doc, font modules
   1 Jul 2005: xserver, driver modules
  15 Jul 2005: app module

The target for this initial development is to have a functionally
complete system that builds and runs on at least one platform (where
platform is defined as an OS/architecture combo -- i.e., Linux/x86,
Solaris/Sparc, etc.).  Other platforms can be added as the developers
for those platforms have time during the 6.9/7.0 schedule.  We hope to
have as many platforms supported as possible for the release and those
that are not complete by then can be added during the 7.1 development
cycle (*).

After the initial modular development is completed, we will cut the
first release candidate (RC0) for both the modular and monolithic trees.
To achieve that, we need to have the feature freeze for the monolithic
tree in the next few weeks, which will allow it to stabilize for the
first release candidate.  We also need to get starting on resurrecting
and expanding the testing procedures we used last time (**).

Here is an updated release schedule with annotations for tasks that
should be worked on and/or completed by the dates listed:

   4 Jul 2005: Feature freeze for the monolithic source tree
               - Check into the monolithic tree all features that are to
                 be included in the 6.9 release
               - Set up test procedure for the release
               - Continue development on the modular tree build system
                 as described above

  15 Jul 2005: RC0
               - Test monolithic tree and fix bugs in preparation for
                 initial release candidate
               - Have regular builds of monolithic tree via Tinderbox
                 going for as many supported platforms as possible
               - Continue development on/debugging of the modular tree
                 build system as described above

  19 Aug 2005: RC1
               - Fix build/run problems in modular tree for as many
                 platforms as possible
               - Add regular builds of modular tree via Tinderbox
               - Test both modular and monolithic trees
               - Fix all bugs that are found (no restrictions)

   9 Sep 2005: RC2
               - Continue testing and fixing bugs
               - Start limiting the bugs to the more critical bug fixes
               - Begin preparing the release documentation

  23 Sep 2005: RCfinal
               - Critical bug fixes only
               - Begin working on press releases (PR text, quotes, etc.)
               - Finalize documentation

  30 Sep 2005: X11R6.9/X11R7 Release
               - Critical documentation updates only
               - Preparation for release (tagging, creating tarballs,
                 getting mirror sites set up, finalizing release etc.)

We will use each of the dates listed above as a check point to make sure
we are on schedule.  The 15 Jul 2005 date was chosen for the first
release candidate for two reasons: the modular tree should be complete
and functional by then and it immediately precedes the Desktop
Developers conference in Ottawa.  Many developers will be attending this
conference (including all three release managers for the 6.9/7.0
release).


Notes:

(*) 7.1 release: The plan is to have a 7.1 release within 6 months of
the 7.0 release.  We will finalize the 7.1 development/release schedule
immediately following the 7.0 release.  Everyone will have the
opportunity to add support for their platform during the 7.0 release
cycle (as described above), but this schedule might not be convenient
for all developers.  Platforms that are not supported by the modular
tree in 7.0 can be added to 7.1.  Our goal is to have releases every 6
months.

(**) Testing: To make this a successful release we need to begin testing
as early as possible.  Testing includes setting up tinderbox, getting
testing going with the latest X Test Suite, actually running the tests
on all available/supported platforms, etc.  Some of the questions that
we need to answer and tasks that we need to complete very early on
(i.e., before the feature freeze) are:
 - Other than the X Test Suite, Rendercheck and Glean, what other test
   suites should be run?
 - The general procedure used for testing the previous 6.8.n releases is
   described in the X.Org wiki here: http://wiki.x.org/wiki/XorgTesting
   How should this procedure be expanded?
 - A test matrix of the known and supported platforms should be set up.
   An automated way to update the text matrix would be very useful.


Alan Coopersmith
Adam Jackson
Kevin E. Martin