[racket-dev] new release policy

From: Matthias Felleisen (matthias at ccs.neu.edu)
Date: Wed Aug 11 11:42:05 EDT 2010

Sorry, this is a misunderstanding. The slow-down 
in releases and the stability are nearly orthogonal. 

Slowdown: The slowdown is a first step in the 
transition of Racket from a research language to 
a stable development language. People should 
eventually see small n major releases per year
and N minor releases perhaps. 

Release test-and-delay steps: When we used to 
have such a policy for releases in the past, 
every single release became a nightmarish process
of perpetual delays. 

Stability: As discussed at PLT day, we are 
aware of instabilities in the API (and the language
on rare occasions). To this end, Jay will develop
a test engine similar to DrDr and run regression 
tests. These tests will work as follows: 

 -- they are run for every repository
    contribution (git push at the moment). 

 -- if a regression test suite fails, the developer
    responsible for the change must either undo the 
    change or work with the test developer to fix 
    the tests. Doing so will give the developer an 
    idea of how to change other code. 

Regression tests should be submitted by everyone with
any serious stake in Racket, which includes people who
develop for the USAF or DHS or educators who wish to 
ensure the stability of some teachpack interface for
their courses. 

People should develop their regression tests with 
members of the team and members of the team should 
submit their own and on behalf of major 'clients'. 

-- Matthias
	


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