X.Org Foundation - Release Wranglers Call - 3rd March - Minutes

Wed Mar 3 16:53:29 PST 2004

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All,

The minutes of the call today - until I had to leave.

Paul Anderson
John Dennis
Egbert Eich
Jim Gettys
Howard Greenwell
Mike Harris
Kaleb Keithley
Stuart Kreitman
Leon Shiman

Minutes:

Egbert reported that as we had agreed, by default, to take version from the 
system for libraries: freetype, zlib and xpat. He asked if non-Linux 
systems ship these libraries?
      (Egbert has freetype working on the HEAD version).

Bug already logged in bugzilla for release note issues. Everyone encouraged 
to put notes in the bugzilla for problems uncovered.
Action : John to put not in bugzilla, for Egbert to add to release notes.

bugzilla -
  code  232 is for documentation issues.
  code  213 is more for code issues.

Egbert not looked into FAQ issues yet. Too busy.

Jim asked about the subtle bug sent last fall... Probably not committed to 
XFree86 lsat year.
Action:  Jim to raise bugzilla report on bug - GTK failing every few hours 
- nasty bug. Gnome applications would fail every few hours.

Jim discussed with Mike Harris - XFree86 shipping very old MASA/DRI pieces. 
Do we want to update? MASA/DRI will not support what is in XFree86.
Jim wants people to look at whether it should be replaced, and send notes 
to lists.
Kaleb says there is a bugzilla report, awaiting to be assigned.
John says seems to be a lot of DRI support sources around. Egbert says 
official one is now on freedesktop. John says kernel people thing different 
- should be the bitkeeper implementation, and divergence. Jim suggested 
Alan Cox is the right person to speak with.
Jim acknowledged we need to get to the bottom of what is the true position.
Frank Lemonica - not available - currently ill.
Mike suggested that he approach Alan Cox - tried to keep his interest up. 
Says want to spend more time on X once he finishes his MBA.
Jim also suggested Robert Love. John suggested Jeff Garzick - writing on X 
Server from scratch. Dave Jones could be another.
Everyone agreed would be healthy if we could get kernel people interested 
in the project.
Ebert asked if the code has been well tested yet - no one knows.
Action: Jim/Mike to organize a call with Brian Paul to how to address.

Release:
Leon asked the group to consider the release and work required.
Suggested there needs to be at least 1 or 2 beta releases. Close to 4.4. 
but not same as. Mike realized that XFree86 release is really a beta as far 
as a Linux distributor is concerned, and then needs 3-6-9 months of 
customers using it to shake out the problems.
Wants to get software into the hands of users to do that testing.
Jim agreed there needs to be at least a pre-release.
Mike noted biggest issues are video driver related bugs.
Users do not download XFree86 sources and compile it. Only way it gets to 
the masses and gets used is when it gets into the ready to go binaries in 
the pre-release distributions. Mike wants to put this in rawhide as soon as 
possible.
ABI changes also cause problems in release. Mike discussed some instances 
of DRM drivers crashing.

Stuart tried to bring things on track... Should declare the tests we will 
run.We should run VSW5, Stuart has a large SUN suite.
Jim proposed, we finish off list of issues. Tag as Pre-Release. Then start 
to run VSW5.

Stuart has Solaris Intel and Solaris Sparc
(Per Robin Cutshaw) - Jim will see if we can get onto the XFree86 test farm.

Jim has Tinderbox Client - needs to find some Perl expertise. Jim should 
call Silvio and John to solve the problems. Then get automated testing started.

Egbert asked for feedback to be sent to him of problems encountered in 
testing. Please do not wait until the build is final.

Stuart happy to coordinate what testing is being done.
Also need testing of video hardware.

(Howard left the call at 11:50am EST)

Howard.  
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All, 
The minutes of the call today - until I had to leave. 
Paul Anderson 
John Dennis 
Egbert Eich 
Jim Gettys 
Howard Greenwell 
Mike Harris 
Kaleb Keithley 
Stuart Kreitman 
Leon Shiman 
 
Minutes: 
Egbert reported that as we had agreed, by default, to take version from
the system for libraries: freetype, zlib and xpat. He asked if non-Linux
systems ship these libraries? 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (Egbert has freetype working on the HEAD
version). 
Bug already logged in bugzilla for release note issues. Everyone
encouraged to put notes in the bugzilla for problems uncovered. 
Action : John to put not in bugzilla, for Egbert to add to release
notes. 
bugzilla - 
&nbsp;code&nbsp; 232 is for documentation issues. 
&nbsp;code&nbsp; 213 is more for code issues. 
Egbert not looked into FAQ issues yet. Too busy. 
Jim asked about the subtle bug sent last fall... Probably not committed
to XFree86 lsat year. 
Action: Jim to raise bugzilla report on bug - GTK failing every
few hours - nasty bug. Gnome applications would fail every few hours.
 
Jim discussed with Mike Harris - XFree86 shipping very old MASA/DRI
pieces. Do we want to update? MASA/DRI will not support what is in
XFree86. 
Jim wants people to look at whether it should be replaced, and send notes
to lists. 
Kaleb says there is a bugzilla report, awaiting to be assigned. 
John says seems to be a lot of DRI support sources around. Egbert says
official one is now on freedesktop. John says kernel people thing
different - should be the bitkeeper implementation, and divergence. Jim
suggested Alan Cox is the right person to speak with. 
Jim acknowledged we need to get to the bottom of what is the true
position. 
Frank Lemonica - not available - currently ill. 
Mike suggested that he approach Alan Cox - tried to keep his interest up.
Says want to spend more time on X once he finishes his MBA. 
Jim also suggested Robert Love. John suggested Jeff Garzick - writing on
X Server from scratch. Dave Jones could be another. 
Everyone agreed would be healthy if we could get kernel people interested
in the project. 
Ebert asked if the code has been well tested yet - no one knows. 
Action: Jim/Mike to organize a call with Brian Paul to how to
address. 
Release: 
Leon asked the group to consider the release and work required. 
Suggested there needs to be at least 1 or 2 beta releases. Close to 4.4.
but not same as. Mike realized that XFree86 release is really a beta as
far as a Linux distributor is concerned, and then needs 3-6-9 months of
customers using it to shake out the problems. 
Wants to get software into the hands of users to do that testing. 
Jim agreed there needs to be at least a pre-release. 
Mike noted biggest issues are video driver related bugs. 
Users do not download XFree86 sources and compile it. Only way it gets to
the masses and gets used is when it gets into the ready to go binaries in
the pre-release distributions. Mike wants to put this in rawhide as soon
as possible. 
ABI changes also cause problems in release. Mike discussed some instances
of DRM drivers crashing. 
Stuart tried to bring things on track... Should declare the tests we will
run.We should run VSW5, Stuart has a large SUN suite. 
Jim proposed, we finish off list of issues. Tag as Pre-Release. Then
start to run VSW5. 
Stuart has Solaris Intel and Solaris Sparc 
(Per Robin Cutshaw) - Jim will see if we can get onto the XFree86 test
farm. 
Jim has Tinderbox Client - needs to find some Perl expertise. Jim should
call Silvio and John to solve the problems. Then get automated testing
started. 
Egbert asked for feedback to be sent to him of problems encountered in
testing. Please do not wait until the build is final. 
Stuart happy to coordinate what testing is being done. 
Also need testing of video hardware. 
(Howard left the call at 11:50am EST) 
Howard. </body>
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