[Releasing] Meeting minutes: Qt release team meeting 12.05.2015

[Timo Jyrinki]

2015-05-12 17:54 GMT+03:00 Heikkinen Jani <jani.heikkinen at theqtcompany.com>:
> Qt5.6 initial plan:
> - Earlier we tried to execute our releases according to schedule skeleton in https://wiki.qt.io/Qt5Releasing
> - We have been late always (with 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 & 5.4), that's why plan for 5.6 is now done based on actual schedules earlier
..
> * Final Release 8th December 2015

I did like the Apr/Oct releasing plan of Qt 5, and I would have
preferred trying to get back on track of that by eg making the freezes
earlier. I understand though that the previous attempts did not work.

The December release of 5.6 will make it a bit tough sell for the next
Ubuntu LTS. Not impossible if the .0 release is regression free, and
I'll start first tests with alpha already. But from downstream
perspective the idea of a .0 release at the start of the cycle
(October) is more pleasing. Ideally the .1 and .2 bug fix releases
would happen by the middle of the cycle well before freezes so that
there is a possibility to thoroughly test products with them too.

It went ok with Qt 5.4 for non-LTS Ubuntu, and Ubuntu phones will get
their Qt 5.4.1 soon enough. But the later the Qt releases, the greater
the risk for subtle regressions found too late that prevent shipping
the new Qt because of deadlines that cannot be extended.

But the worst that can happen is that Ubuntu 16.04 LTS will simply
ship with Qt 5.5.x. I just wanted to give a vote to supporting earlier
than December/June releasing.

-Timo