[rhelv6-list] 6.4 anyone?

[Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Santiago) discussion mailing-list]

On 21/02/2013 11:04, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Santiago) discussion 
mailing-list wrote:
> On 02/21/2013 09:51 AM, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (Santiago) 
> discussion mailing-list wrote:
>> Cale:
>>> To take it one step further, I would like to see an announcement go
>>> out on the lists a week in advance so that we know it is coming...
>>
>> While entirely agreeing with this point, I would note that historical
>> practice by Redhat regarding point releases is fairly predictable:
>>
>> * beta periods last 2 months
>> * releases happen on Thursdays
>>
>> I was _expecting_ to see 6.4 today.
>
> DISCLAIMER: I work for Red Hat, but I am NOT in a business unit which 
> releases updates, so this is NOT to be interpreted as official Red Hat 
> policy! It's based on about seven and a half years of experience here.
>
> Having said that: What you said is *not* a reliable indicator of 
> future behavior. It could very well change.
>
> We release updates when they're ready, not according to an arbitrary 
> date on a calendar. IMHO, the frustration of unpredictable release 
> dates is FAR outweighed by the frustration of a busted update. If you 
> start engineering to dates, rather than to quality control, you're 
> MUCH more likely to cause problems for customers. We really, really 
> don't want to rush something out to make a date, only to have 
> something half-baked take down customer systems. We release when it's 
> ready.
>
> Make sense?

I fully agree with not rushing a release to meet a deadline set a weeks 
ahead of time. However unless there are any serious security releases in 
the point release, which should likely not be put off until the rest of 
the point release packages are ready anyways, could you not give a 
buffer of a day or two between when the point release is announced 
(because it is ready to go) and when it is released? That way 
administrators could plan their maintenance schedules with a little more 
notice.
I must admit that I have not had alot of experience with the beta 
releases, as I have limited time and money for test servers, so I have 
not paid alot of attention to when they are released, so it is my fault 
that releases sneak up on me without notice. This is not a serious issue 
to me or I would look into the other entitlements mentioned, however I 
do find the release procedure a little clunky and since someone brought 
up the topic I thought I would just express some options. I hope I have 
not wasted too much of everyone's time.
Cale