alpha/beta software in Fedora 8?

Mark markg85 at gmail.com
Tue Nov 27 22:41:13 UTC 2007


2007/11/27, Adam Tkac <atkac at redhat.com>:
> On Mon, Nov 26, 2007 at 09:24:48PM -0500, Chuck Anderson wrote:
> > Fedora 8 shipped with an BIND 9.5.0a6, recently updated to 9.5.0a7.
> > The release announcement for BIND says:
> >
> > BIND 9.5.0a7 is a alpha release for BIND 9.5.0.
> >
> >       This is a technology preview of new functionality to be be
> >       released in BIND 9.5.0.  New APIs are not yet frozen.
> >
> > Is this an appropriate release to be putting in a stable Fedora
> > release?  I've encounted a segfault in this version, which I've
> > reported here:
> >
> > https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=400461
> >
> > I'm concerned about the policies which allow unstable software in
> > stable Fedora releases.  Is it considered acceptable/encouraged to
> > have alpha versions of software in the stable release?  Is there any
> > policy?
> >
> > Thanks.
>
> I've put this software to F8 because it has nice new features. Some
> bugs is tax for them. Additionally I don't think that users use newest
> Fedora on important servers and 9.5 will come into beta stage very
> soon.
>
> Adam
>
> >
> > --
> > fedora-devel-list mailing list
> > fedora-devel-list at redhat.com
> > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
>
> --
> Adam Tkac, Red Hat, Inc.

Hey,

I understand why you choose to include it but i don't really like it.
If i run a server i want to have the latest _stable_ releases and
certainly no alpha (BIND) beta or even a build (NetworkManager)! now i
can imagine that desktop applications that aren't in a final release
can get pushed in Fedora because it simply has some nice additions
that you don't want your users to miss. But BIND is a vital part of a
server (DNS Server) so i think you shouldn't include beta's or even
alpha's of that in final releases of Fedora.

And you say:
> Fedora has new features and new features mean bugs so you
> cannot expect such stability like RHEL.

Oke i understand that. BUT the fact that you do push a vital server
component that is in alpha in Fedora does imply that you are testing
it on fedora for RHEL! (which in term keeps your other statement
standing).

Fedora is used for servers (which you as a redhat employee probably
know) but in the mean time it's purpose is mainly a desktop OS. I
would say that:
 - All server components like Sendmail, DNS, Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL
etc.. should stay up to date with there latest _stable_ release (no
alpha's, beta's or rc's)
 - All desktop related applications can probably be less tight.. I
don't see a problem there for alpha's, beta's or rc's.. as long as the
applications itself don't crash and just work.

That's just my point of view as a fedora desktop and (previously) server user.




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