[IAEP] [ANNOUNCE] Sucrose 0.88 Development Cycle Schedule

[Simon Schampijer]

Dear Sugar Community,

I am proud to present you the Sucrose 0.88 Schedule [1]!

* Dates *
We keep the time based 6 months release cycle. Final release will be: 
31rd of March 2010. We basically have the same dates as GNOME. Those 
dates are made in conjunction with the various distributions. So we will 
be able to get our final release into the distributions.

* New Freezes *
We added some new freezes based on the experience of previous 
development cycles. For example we have now an UI freeze to avoid UI 
changes late in the cycle. As the UI is such a crucial part, we hope to 
keep the quality of the UI and the Sugar work flow high. This helps 
documentation efforts, as well.

* Earlier Feature Freeze *
Furthermore the Feature Freeze is earlier than in previous cycles. We 
want to give testers more chances to test the new features and the 
developers more time to clean the rough edges and stabilize them. At the 
final release we would like to give out a stable release with many new 
exciting features.

* Long term planning *
We layed out the 0.90 schedule, too. This allows for long term planning. 
For example for bigger features like versions in the datastore. If your 
feature misses the 0.88 boat, don't be sad the next release is coming.

* Testing *
We want to give out a Soas build containing Fedora 12 and the current 
development build. This should allow testers to have a simple to use 
platform for testing. Of course testing can happen as well in other 
distributions. The release dates are Wednesdays - we hope that the 
release is then packaged by the weekend to allow testers to do testing. 
Help wanted: We would like to see testing teams to emerge ---> 
coordinated effort, more fun etc. Of course individuals can do testing, too.

* Feature Process *
The has been an overview of the Feature Process [3]. Mainly trying to 
write it up more clearly. But as well adding more details about how to 
get feedback about a feature and how to work on UI features. There will 
be another mail with more details on the process.

* Release Manager *
As already in previous releases Simon Schampijer will be your release 
manager.

* Do the actual work *
The roadmap is only the framework for this development cycle. The amount 
of success is up to each one of us. We have an earlier Feature Freeze 
now to allow for testing, but the testing itself must still happen. We 
have more time for stabilizing now, but the developers need to do bug 
fixing then. The roadmap should help as well contributors to prioritize 
their work based on the freezes. Use that tool!


Everyone a productive development cycle,
    Simon


[1] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/0.88/Roadmap#Schedule

[2] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/0.90/Roadmap#Schedule

[3] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Features/Policy