Hi, Since the release of CentOS 5.3 is imminent(?) I'd like to ask a question regarding why did it took so long to be released and, more important, suggest some actions in order to reduce this time if I can assume what caused this delay. First I'd like to make sure I am not complaining about this delay between the RHEL and CentOS releases per se. I did not help in any way to make it happen faster and usually I don't mind having a three weeks gap between them. But I've noticed that we had two security related kernel updates from RHEL since the RHEL 5.3 release and there is no word on when it will be released or why is it taking so long. I can only assume that this delay is caused by lack of the necessary human resources. So, if this is really the case I'd suggest making some sort of campaign to raise money and provide the necessary resources in order to speed things up. If RH maintains the 4-6 month schedule it can happen again in less than three months. If this is not the case as a suggestion please let the community know what's going on. Perhaps an automated email sent to the mailing list with today's status (like 400 packages left to rebase, 20 packages being reviewed by QA etc) would give a sense of progress, let the others know if you hit problems and reduce the anxiety with daily doses of news :) Regards. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/attachments/20090323/1a581168/attachment-0003.html>
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 mbneto wrote:> > So, if this is really the case I'd suggest making some sort of campaign > to raise money and provide the necessary resources in order to speed > things up. If RH maintains the 4-6 month schedule it can happen again > in less than three months.There is already a "donate" link on the centos.org web page. You could easily start that campaign and herd people to the site to make donations. Barry -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFJx3oTCFu3bIiwtTARAi3PAJ9PYTFQNhxKitW3hLgm35fofnA4iwCfeWt1 sz1OPeShDExlG5HryNqrpJY=ZXKd -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
mbneto wrote:> Hi, > > Since the release of CentOS 5.3 is imminent(?) I'd like to ask a > question regarding why did it took so long to be released and, more > important, suggest some actions in order to reduce this time if I can > assume what caused this delay. > > First I'd like to make sure I am not complaining about this delay > between the RHEL and CentOS releases per se. I did not help in any way > to make it happen faster and usually I don't mind having a three weeks > gap between them. But I've noticed that we had two security related > kernel updates from RHEL since the RHEL 5.3 release and there is no word > on when it will be released or why is it taking so long. > > I can only assume that this delay is caused by lack of the necessary > human resources.There were some unusual situations with core developers this time around.> So, if this is really the case I'd suggest making some sort of campaign > to raise money and provide the necessary resources in order to speed > things up. If RH maintains the 4-6 month schedule it can happen again > in less than three months.Some additional resources could help but since CentOS developers are unpaid, raising money for human resources may not be the correct approach. Beefing up the buildsystem has been noted as something desirable.> If this is not the case as a suggestion please let the community know > what's going on. Perhaps an automated email sent to the mailing list > with today's status (like 400 packages left to rebase, 20 packages being > reviewed by QA etc) would give a sense of progress, let the others know > if you hit problems and reduce the anxiety with daily doses of news :)And who is going to develop such nice automation? There has been regular news: http://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=18223&forum=37 http://twitter.com/CentOS Phil
On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 07:46:49AM -0400, mbneto wrote:> > So, if this is really the case I'd suggest making some sort of campaign to > raise money and provide the necessary resources in order to speed things > up.? If RH maintains the 4-6 month schedule it can happen again in less > than three months. > > If this is not the case as a suggestion please let the community know > what's going on.? Perhaps an automated email sent to the mailing list with > today's status (like 400 packages left to rebase, 20 packages being > reviewed by QA etc) would give a sense of progress, let the others know if > you hit problems and reduce the anxiety with daily doses of news :) >(Obdiscaimer: I am not a CentOS developer) You know, it really amuses me that there are all these "drive-by" offers of "help" with every new release of CentOS. If I were one of the developers, I'd be getting a little annoyed right now. If you really want to assist, why don't you invest the time and effort BEFORE a release is near, helping out with all the standard stuff so that you can gain the trust of the team, and become a real, long term, contributor. -- Cheers! (Relax...have a homebrew) Neil ...aliquando et insanire iucundum est. -- Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Hi, As the OP (original poster?) I've read all messages so far and instead of replying to each one I'd like to sum all up and perhaps clarify my post so we can move on with some more productive debate. A background info: I've been using CentOS for almost three years and I am happy with it. Sometimes I do need to use something no provided by it (nor RHEL) and I use separate repositories but it is minimal. My intention while posting the question is that, even tough it is a community based distro, I felt confused by the fact that a long time has passed and still no message was posted explaining why that happened and no call for help (if that was the case) was made. One suggested that if I was not happy just go and buy the RHEL with their support. Otherwise shut up and be glad with whatever I receive (for free) from CentOS. I think we can reach a middle ground. One reported that the development team of CentOS has only three guys and they can have personal problems (link being sick, tired, getting married - not that this is a problem). I do not have any sort of numbers of the popularity of CentOS but I suspect that we are very popular and in that sense a certain level of responsibility (to that community) is required. Please note that I am not saying that the team (3 or 300) is not responsible. As I've been made aware by some posts the team shows a level of commitment that surely affects their personal/professional environment. But in the end we can't close our eyes to the fact that this release is 'late' and that security issues were disclosed and so far no real date is set. And that is the focus. No matter how much effort and despite the problems that occurred between the RHEL release and CentOS we must ask ourselves why it happened this way and what can I(we) do to improve that. I think that the team (and other members of this list) ask the same question when they finish something and start wondering how they can make it better/faster/cheaper. In that sense my suggestions : raise money / improve transparency / build some sort of communication channel for situations like this go in that direction. We should have fun. If this is not the case sooner or later we will give up. And as long as CentOS stays a relevant distro the pressure (not only from me) will continue to raise. How to create a comfort zone is this case? Perhaps this particular episode can reveal some aspects that, at least for myself, were unknown. So the final questions are: a) does the team (or the core at least) feel the same way/think this maybe a problem? b) what can we do next? Regards. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/attachments/20090326/3427157b/attachment-0003.html>
mbneto wrote:> Hi, > > Since the release of CentOS 5.3 is imminent(?) I'd like to ask a > question regarding why did it took so long to be released and, more > important, suggest some actions in order to reduce this time if I can > assume what caused this delay.Late? I just finished cleaning up my file systems in anticipation that it was probably about ready. Looked at the forum, and saw that it should be here any time now. So it's not late to me :p> > First I'd like to make sure I am not complaining about this delay > between the RHEL and CentOS releases per se. I did not help in any way > to make it happen faster and usually I don't mind having a three weeks > gap between them. But I've noticed that we had two security related > kernel updates from RHEL since the RHEL 5.3 release and there is no word > on when it will be released or why is it taking so long.You can buy RHEL you know. You can also get RHEL src.rpm for packages with critical security that impact you and rebuild them. Most security related updates are not exploitable, as in no known exploit exists. Were there a serious exploit, you undoubtedly would see a patch - last time there was a serious vulnerability (local kernel exploit) there were CentOS users who had patches that could be applied to CentOS src.rpm before RHEL had an official fix. If there is a serious security issue, you can get help.> > I can only assume that this delay is caused by lack of the necessary > human resources. > > So, if this is really the case I'd suggest making some sort of campaign > to raise money and provide the necessary resources in order to speed > things up. If RH maintains the 4-6 month schedule it can happen again > in less than three months.Wow, I really must be out of the loop. New versions of RHEL every 4-6 months? Damn. I left Fedora because their release schedule was too frequent ...