On Thursday 08 November 2007, John Summerfield wrote: > Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote: > > Serguei Miridonov wrote: > >> However, before starting a discussion about this I would > >> like to ask, if this topic was discussed earlier. > > To death. > > I'm sure it was > > >> but can somebody point me any deep analysis which really > >> proves that current one year lifetime and half-year > >> release period is the best for Fedora? > > > > Here is a section of a post on Fedora Philosophy: > > > > The Fedora project does not pretend to be *production > > server* centric. It does not even pretend to be > > *production server* friendly. The personality of the > > Fedora project is fast paced, (b)leading edge, leaving the > > past behind quickly. It is a great proving ground or test > > bed for current technologies. It is fun. It will never > > have the stability or extended support that a server class > > distribution does. > > Translated, "rolling beta." In return for your access to the > latest technology, you can expect cuts and bruises. Then don't name "rolling beta" as stable because it is missleading. > If you want a longer life, go look at other solutions. Look, I'm running Linux since 1994 starting with Slackware then switched to Red Hat and Fedora. I have Linux on both home computer and in my office. I always liked the fact that with every new release the system became more and more stable and usefull. That was before F7. Upgrading from FC5 to F7 wasn't disaster, of course, but this was just because of my knowledge of the system - using Linux more than 12 years makes difference. USB drives did not mount, no problem, we'll do it manually. Kernel did not park heads before switching power of laptop off, well, modern drives use their kinetic energy to remove heads. I could imagine the perception of inexperienced user who for some reason decides to try Fedora as his first (and last?) Linux distribution. In July-August most F7 problems were resolved (for my system, at least). The normal life has just started, but now F7 has only 6-7 months to live? This is what makes me just rise my hand and ask. My remarks are not to offense developers and maintainers. I myself was a maintainer of a kernel driver and I know what it cost to keep things alive. I started this thread having just one thought in mind - improving Fedora, at least, to return the stability that Red Hat and Fedora had in the past. This is why I suggest to have one release an year, allow more time for testing before the release and extend the lifetime at least for two years. If someone wants new and cool bleading edge software, there is always a testing version of Fedora, so long term lifetime isn't a problem. Even some newest packages can be backported to current test updates. Actually, I'm not going to continue this discussion. I wanted just to share my thoughts. I know that I'm not alone. For example, here http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/blog/2007/03/where_fedora_went_wrong.html is also said enough, on both sides. And my opinion is that Fedora will only win if testing period and release lifetime will be at least twice longer. Best regards, Serguei.
