On 11.05.2017 09:06, Markus Armbruster wrote: > Paolo Bonzini <pbonz...@redhat.com> writes: > >> On 10/05/2017 16:47, Thomas Huth wrote: >>>> So while we can delete pc-0.12, we can't delete associated features needed >>>> by pc-0.12, without complicating RHEL's ability to create its back-compat >>>> machine types. Downstream would have to un-delete the features. >>> >>> So I guess this is why Paolo said that pc-0.12 is still in "use" ... I >>> think removing pc-0.12, but not removing rombar=0 will cause confusion >>> in the upstream code base sooner or later, >> >> I agree. >> >>> so I guess we should rather >>> keep the pc-0.12 machine until we can get rid of it together with the >>> rombar code. We should still mark it as deprecated, of course. >>> >>>> I think tieing removal to major versions is a mistake, unless we're >>>> going to set a fixed timeframe for delivery of major versions. ie if >>>> we gaurantee that we'll ship a new major version every 18 months, that >>>> gives people a predictable lifetime. If we carry on inventing reasons >>>> for major versions at arbitrary points in time, it makes it difficult >>>> to have any reasonable forward planning. It is more users friendly if >>>> we can set a clear fixed timeframe for machine type lifecycle / eol >>> >>> IMHO we should have a new major release after we've reached a .9 minor >>> release, but so far it seems like I'm the only one with that wish... >> >> I actually like that, but then you've pretty much guaranteed that you >> _cannot_ remove anything deprecated until 4.0. You and Daniel aren't >> disagreeing as heavily as it seems, I think. > > Even better: drop the '.', and stop worrying about having to wait for > some arbitrary number to come up before you're allowed to do something > ;)
I agree, we shouldn't limit ourselves by saying that we can only remove things when switching to a new major release. But I still think that also having "regular" major releases (e.g. after each .9 minor release) could also help us to remind ourselves to do some bigger (and likely necessary) spring-cleaning regularly. Thomas
