On Mon, Oct 17, 2016 at 4:48 PM, Jeroen Demeyer <jdeme...@cage.ugent.be> wrote: > On 2016-10-17 16:32, Erik Bray wrote: >> >> If a critical >> bug is found in released software it makes absolute sense to >> prioritize a release for that bug. > > > First of all, there have occasionally been bugfix releases of Sage: > * http://www.sagemath.org/changelogs/sage-5.0.1.txt > * http://www.sagemath.org/changelogs/sage-5.4.1.txt > * http://www.sagemath.org/changelogs/sage-6.1.1.txt > * http://www.sagemath.org/changelogs/sage-6.4.1.txt > > Such critical bugs are very rare in Sage. I cannot recall any bug in a > released version of Sage in the last year or so that would justify a bugfix > release. Remember that Sage is tested well before releases, on the patchbot, > on the buildbot and by developers running beta/rc versions.
Bug fix releases are good even for non-critical bugs. Just because "Sage is tested well before releases" doesn't mean there are not bugs. It's great to be able to get fixes to users quickly without having to go through a longer release testing process that is necessary for bigger releases with more features, new dependencies, etc. This will be especially important as we move toward trying to better decouple sagelib from its dependencies in how it's developed. I'm also not sure how you're defining "critical bugs". I think all bugs are fairly important to fix within the framework of a manageable maintenance cycle. Having such a cycle means you get those fixes out to users faster--as Francois wrote "release early, and release often". Again, I apologize for dismissing it as a "platitude". It's a good mantra, especially for bug fixes. It's just not a *plan*. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-devel" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sage-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
