[syslinux] Syslinux-5.00-pre8

[Ady]

Subject:        	Re: [syslinux] Syslinux-5.00-pre8
Copies to:      	syslinux at zytor.com
Date sent:      	Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:48:30 +0100

> On Wed, 2012-10-10 at 12:26 +0200, Ady wrote:

> You are throwing the word "stable" around a bit too much. Why do you
> think we'll be releasing an incomplete or unstable Syslinux version?
> 
> There is only so much testing that people will do with the prereleases.
> It is invaluable testing, that's for sure and it turns up lots of bugs.
> But it's when people deploy a release in their running environment that
> the really obscure bugs turn up. A final release of 5.00 will get people
> to actually deploy and *use* it - that's the benefit that a final
> release has over prereleases.
> 
> > Being forced to release "5.00.1" or "5.01", or "4.06.1" or "4.07" 
> > after a week (or a month) is not a good practice. If you plan to make 
> > shorter release cycles, it should be because the development is 
> > quicker; not because the "stable" release is not really stable (and 
> > 4.06 isn't complete yet IMHO).
> 
> Please give details why you think it isn't complete.
> 

Matt,

The most important feature (in user's eyes) is the NTFS support. My 
previous impression was that the fragmented MFT case was being 
considered as an "edge case". IMHO, it is a frequent case.

A user testing one distro on UFD, then another, then another... would 
probably get a fragmented MFT at some point. I don't know if the 
problem presents itself only when installing ldlinux.sys (and then 
all is fine, no matter what), or if otherwise when the MFT gets to be 
fragmented the boot process won't work (even when ldlinux.sys was 
already installed, before the fragmentation started).

So, IMHO, that is a (the) core known issue still present for 4.06. 
Now, if the final release of 4.06 is going to have this issue 
covered, then that's a very important step. But users that _are_ 
testing the current prereleases need some time to test and report 
back. If 4.06 is out this week, I think part of the potential testers 
of the prereleases won't have such opportunity. But first Paulo and 
Shao may need some more time to solve the matter.

Additionally, having some commonly used directives not working as 
they should (for so long time), is IMHO also important. I wouldn't 
consider the problems in submenus or in "menu default" or in their 
respective (currently wrong) documentation something to keep 
postponing. But that's just my humble opinion.

I can help with testing prereleases or with docs if needed, but not 
with commits. If you think that it is better to release 4.06, 4.10 
and 5.00 close in time, then go head and I'll do what I can to help. 
I just wanted to express my humble opinion when it may still be 
relevant.

Best Regards,
Ady.