[OpenAFS-devel] 1.6.1pre3?
Jeffrey Altman
jaltman@your-file-system.com
Sun, 04 Mar 2012 08:43:16 -0500
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On 3/4/2012 3:08 AM, Garrett Wollman wrote:
<blockquote
cite=3D"mid:20307.8944.31010.830563@khavrinen.csail.mit.edu"
type=3D"cite">
<pre wrap=3D""><<On Sun, 04 Mar 2012 02:43:01 -0500, Jeffrey =
Altman <a class=3D"moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href=3D"mailto:jaltman@your-fil=
e-system.com"><jaltman@your-file-system.com></a> said:
</pre>
<blockquote type=3D"cite">
<pre wrap=3D"">The other list you can subscribe to is <a class=3D=
"moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href=3D"mailto:openafs-cvs@openafs.org">openaf=
s-cvs@openafs.org</a> which
sends notifications for each patchset that has been approved via Gerrit
upon its submission to the openafs git repository.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=3D"">
Which has nothing to do with the planning for the release process,
</pre>
</blockquote>
<blockquote
cite=3D"mid:20307.8944.31010.830563@khavrinen.csail.mit.edu"
type=3D"cite">
<pre wrap=3D"">which seems to be undertaken by some unknown group o=
f people without
any communication to the wider community.[1] By contrast, most other
open-source projects have a public release schedule or set of release
milestones, and these things are announced on an obvious mailing-list
(like one whose name suggests that it is targeted towards developers)
on a regular basis.
-GAWollman
[1] I hope it is not the case that these people together represent
most of what's left of the AFS community outside of IBM labs.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
For starters, there is no longer an IBM AFS Product group.=C2=A0 All =
that
remains of AFS development is OpenAFS.<br>
<br>
While it is true that the openafs-cvs list has nothing to do with
the release process, gerrit.openafs.org does, and I pointed you at
that first.=C2=A0 All patchsets which are being considered for inclus=
ion
in a release are processed through gerrit.openafs.org.=C2=A0 Not only=
when they are initially reviewed and processed for the master branch
but when they are being pulled (or cherry picked) to a release
branch as well.=C2=A0=C2=A0 Requests for pull ups are performed by su=
bmitting
a cherry picked patchset to the desired branch.=C2=A0 Objections to p=
ull
ups being applied are voiced by voting -1 on the patch set.<br>
<br>
OpenAFS, unlike many other open source projects, say Linux, Apache,
Samba, Mozilla, etc., does not have any central resources.=C2=A0 The
OpenAFS community does not fund development.=C2=A0 Nor does it fund t=
he
cost of gatekeeping, release management, or testing.=C2=A0 The
gatekeepers have said repeatedly over the years that we want to move
to a more regular release cycle.=C2=A0 Unfortunately, wrenches are
constantly being thrown in the path of progress.=C2=A0 It took nearly=
five years to get 1.6.0 out the door because of known instability
issues.=C2=A0 Having shipped 1.6.0 in August, 1.6.1 has yet to ship
because of production problems with that release (NAT pings, idle
dead, and related issues.)=C2=A0 The release schedule is to release 1=
=2E6.1
as soon as the root cause of the known issues have been addressed.=C2=
=A0
<br>
<br>
Identifying the root cause of a problem is critical because if we
don't, we cannot be sure that the problem has in fact been
addressed.=C2=A0 To identify root cause we work with members of the
community that are experiencing an issue and have reported it to
<a class=3D"moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href=3D"mailto:openafs-bugs@ope=
nafs.org">openafs-bugs@openafs.org</a> (or who have a private support con=
tract.)=C2=A0
Identifying root cause in really hard cases such as an apparently
random data corruption issue can take a while.=C2=A0 Both the
investigator and the tester need to have available cycles and the
problem must be reproducible.<br>
<br>
In terms of long term planning for releases such as the milestones
listed on <a class=3D"moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href=3D"http://www.op=
enafs.org/roadmap.html">www.openafs.org/roadmap.html</a>, OpenAFS is at t=
he mercy of
outside forces.=C2=A0 For starters, the development organizations tha=
t
intend to contribute a feature have to in fact do so.=C2=A0 Secondly,=
after the 2008 NJIT best practice workshop the community decided
that the standardization of the AFS protocol should not be left in
the hands of OpenAFS.=C2=A0 The afs3-standardization process was form=
ed
and the OpenAFS Elders agreed that no protocol changes would be
accepted into OpenAFS without the afs3-standardization process being
satisfied.<br>
<br>
Simon argues that we should have timed releases no matter what.=C2=A0=
The
big problem with time releases occurs when there are significant
issues that are extremely time consuming to address, many of the
resources that are available for release management get spent on
debugging and testing.<br>
<br>
There is a broader problem as well which is that there is a
significant concentration of development resources in a very small
number of organizations.=C2=A0 Your File System Inc. is responsible f=
or
funding or implementing over 60% of the code contributions to
OpenAFS.=C2=A0 Sine Nomine is responsible for about 20% and the remai=
ning
15% or so come from approximately 30 to 35 other developers or
documentation writers over the course of a year.<br>
<br>
Over the last three years Your File System and Secure Endpoints have
averaged $225,000 a year in unfunded work on OpenAFS.=C2=A0 This cove=
rs
gatekeeping, release management, testing, and following up and
addressing every issue that is reported to <a class=3D"moz-txt-link-a=
bbreviated" href=3D"mailto:openafs-bugs@openafs.org">openafs-bugs@openafs=
=2Eorg</a>
for which there is not already a known fix.<br>
<br>
It is my opinion as a gatekeeper that there can be no long term
improvement in the OpenAFS release scheduling until such time as the
underlying financing problems are addressed.=C2=A0 Until OpenAFS has =
some
resources to manage, the gatekeepers will continue to do the best we
can with the time that is available to us.<br>
<br>
Jeffrey Altman<br>
<br>
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