Re: 2.4 timetable and feature list

Hi Charles,

> Charles Goodwin wrote:
> On Thu, 2004-12-30 at 10:19 +0000, Tomas Frydrych wrote:
>
>>Once finalised, that [feature] list will be non-negotiable
>> -- no exceptions, no matter how trivial.
>
>
> That sounds a little extreme. If a developer (new or existing) turns up
> and develops a new feature that consensus dictates is both complete and
> worthwhile, why should it be eschewed from an upcoming release?

Because in the past new features introduced late in the development
cycle have caused no ends to bugs and delays in the final release date.
The seemingly innocent features have a tendency to turn out more
involved than anticipated. The limited and strictly enforced feature
list is tied to the short release timetable. If you come along with a
new feature once the cycle commences, you will need to wait for the next
cycle to have that new feature introduced. On the proposed timetable
that is ~6 month at most.

> Whilst the contents of said feature list should be strongly advocated,
> they should not be applied strictly to the point that it turns away
> prospective developers. That's just harming the project.

I do not see how this would turn prospective developers off. People will
be able to request enhancements in bugzilla and attach patches. But in
general, we receive few patches for new features -- abiword is just too
complex for someone to turn up out of the blue with an implementation of
a new feature. Most patches are for bugfixes, which would not be
affected by this.

Tomas
Received on Thu Dec 30 13:39:31 2004