[ntp:hackers] post-4.2.8 ntp-dev

brian utterback brian.utterback at oracle.com
Wed Dec 24 20:41:46 UTC 2014


I see no advantage to changing the package name. The fact that the major
number doesn't change doesn't seem to be a problem to me. My preference
is to assign some kind of functional meaning to each level and then
stick to it. So the major number is the protocol version. The
meaningless number is the "2" currently to my way of thinking, it
doesn't have a functional meaning at all and hasn't changed in 10 years.

What I would like to see is that we rev the 2 to 4.3.0 and get rid of
the patch numbers, using the micro number instead. Make the stable
releases really stable, with only bug fixes allowed, nothing backwards
incompatible. No one should ever need be afraid to update to a later
version of the same stable branch. Allow anything into the dev releases,
and periodically branch the dev into a new stable branch, designating
the first few micro releases of the stable branch as the release
candidates, then announce which one is release ready.

Brian Utterback

On 12/24/2014 3:59 AM, Havard Eidnes wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm going to offer a counterproposal.
>
> The thing which would be the simplest all around is to stop
> attaching any special semantics to any of the numbers which make
> up the version number for the ntp distribution, and to the extent
> you need to call them anything simply designate them as
> major.minor.tiny and possibly patchlevel.
>
> This has several advantages:
>
> 1) It allows you to not change the package name
> 2) It allows you to not introduce any discontinuities in the
>    versioning of the package
> 3) It divorces the "maximum protocol version implemented" from
>    the release numbering scheme, allowing you to go to 5.x
>    without there having to be a corresponding NTP version 5
>    protocol spec.
>
> The last one is optional, of course, and you can cross that
> bridge when you think you get there.  The two first ones are the
> ones which removes the need for many other people to do work to
> continue tracking your distribution.
>
> Best regards,
>
> - Håvard
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-- 
Brian Utterback
Solaris RPE, Oracle Corporation.
Ph:603-262-3916, Em:brian.utterback at oracle.com



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