[Zope-dev] official release policy ZTK is still not changed

[Martijn Faassen]

Hey,

Jim Fulton wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 8:55 AM, Martijn Faassen <faassen at startifact.com> wrote:
>> Hi there,
>>
>> Apparently some people are using '0' instead of the next version for
>> packages in the ZTK.
>>
>> Please do not do this for ZTK packages. The official policy for
>> releasing is here.
>>
>> http://docs.zope.org/zopetoolkit/process/releasing-software.html
> 
> I don't understand why this would be important,

?!..

See my comment below.

> but if it is, I
> propose to using 0 instead of the dev of the next version.  Where I've
> used '0', I've found it to be less error prone.  Ir also requires less
> effort because it means you never have to edit the version on the
> trunk.

I'm -1 to using 0.

Reasons:

* it breaks dependencies on development versions which have version 
requirements in it (see Wichert's comments on the original thread). 
We're supposed to be maintaining these: see the version requirements in 
setup.py decision of the steering group: 
http://docs.zope.org/zopetoolkit/steeringgroup/decisions.html

* I (and others) use tools to do releases (zest.releaser in my case). 
These tools are based on this policy. Changing the policy breaks the tools.

* change with little gain (and some loss) to a policy which we've had 
for years and works fine. (Philipp wrote this sometime in 2007 or so, 
and we were already having debates about doing VBs back then. Christian 
added it in the documentation that turned into the ZTK documentation 
right away)

I'm also particularly disgruntled that people just started deviating 
from the ZTK policy without discussion. Goes completely against the 
point of having a steering group and a written down policy.

Comments like "I don't understand why this should be important" don't 
improve my mood. The whole point of writing down policy is so everybody 
knows what it is and will use it, instead of it being some randomly 
evolving community practice.

This way it is much easier to help new people get up to speed in our 
community, maintain consistent practices, and people already in our 
community will also have an easier time keeping track of what's going on.

[I hope people who appreciate having such a policy will chip in here and 
say "yes, I want a written-down policy, please" so it isn't just me who 
is telling Jim this.]

Regards,

Martijn