[TYPO3-core] Official information about the upcoming LTS version

Ernesto Baschny [cron IT] ernst at cron-it.de
Fri Sep 21 12:40:34 CEST 2012


Slightly offtopic, but my point of view on the "6 months release cycle":

François Suter schrieb am 21.09.2012 09:02:

> Now I still think that the 6-months release cycle is too short. We end
> up *not* using most of the TYPO3 versions, all the more so because
> there's 4.5 LTS. Ever since 4.5 was released we built a single web site
> with 4.6, because that release contained a feature that was critical for
> this client. The only site running 4.7 is our company's own, which was
> more like a test than anything else. We have a couple of clients
> currently going through the upgrade process, which is not entirely smooth.
> 
> We are not considering upgrading any client to 6.0. We will certainly do
> small sites with that upcoming version, but the uncertainty about DAM is
> a killer for large sites. Of course you could say our clients could pay
> for helping develop DAM 2.0, but what is their need since they have a
> nice 4.5 LTS running for 2 more years yet?

Releasing in 6 months doesn't mean *you* need to use any version. But
there will be people using it, and this gives *you* the benefit of
having a much more stable 6.1 and later 6.2, because more people
*tested* and used it. This is not possible if we only have "beta"
releases which no one in the field really tests.

So releasing more often gives new features the chance to really mature
and stabilize over time, as the knowledge around these features gets
widespread than if we don't release it.

Imagine a feature that didn't make it in one release just because it is
"one day late" it will then have to be post-poned by one year. With our
concept of 6 months it can be integrated right away and released in 6
months.

So both sides gets the benefits.

There are no wasted resources (on the contrary), because doing a
"release" is just the sum of stuff that was done until the feature
freeze. The development time is the same, and considering that
motivation is higher if you get the chance to integrate more often. The
actual "release process" (involving marketing, banner for the homepage,
events, writing the news, etc) are (in my view) peanuts of effort
compared to the time that went into development itself.

Even for the doc-team the amount of work is the same: if you have to
document one feature each 6 months or two features each 12 months. :)

Cheers,
Ernesto





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