Revised TB Summary of release discussion

[Mark Banner]

I just wanted to revise the summary of the release discussion, based on the earlier thread, and the discussions we've had at the status meetings.

Here is where I think we are at:

• Mainstream releases will generally follow the ESR branch from TB 17
• A TB 17.1 release (which would be based on gecko ESR 17) is not desired at this moment in time
• If we did change our minds and did want to do a TB 17.1, we'd need to change the decision by 19th November as that's about when the Beta channel becomes TB 18, which would make it difficult for us to downgrade users to a TB 17.1
• Mainstream and ESR releases will not be merged at this stage, but will be kept separate to facilitate possible intermediate releases later
• Thunderbird development will still follow the rapid release trains, i.e. central, aurora and beta
• This would allow L10n to continue working as they are now
  
• Betas will be cut down in frequency (probably one per cycle), until near the next ESR branch when they would be ramped up to help work on stability for the ESR release

Open Question:

• There is concern about keeping the stability of Thunderbird around the time of Gecko 24
• We should look to ramp up our beta population
  
• It has been suggested to release a Thunderbird 22 or 23 to the mainstream channel so that any stability issues can be resolved
  
• This may not be early enough if there are API/L10n issues that need to be resolved
  
• Earlier than 23, would also need community input to help with the releases
• Another option would be to allow for a Gecko 24.1 (though this wouldn't help ESR users)
  
• We'll need to monitor this and revisit it around the time of Gecko 20/21 to confirm the way ahead

This is how I see it at the moment, but please speak up if you're understanding things differently or have questions etc.

Mark.

[ace]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Revised TB Summary of release discussion
From: Mark Banner <mba...@mozilla.com>
To: tb-pl...@mozilla.org <tb-pl...@mozilla.org>
Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:32:35 +0100

> I just wanted to revise the summary of the release discussion, based on
> the earlier thread, and the discussions we've had at the status meetings.
>
> Here is where I think we are at:
>

> * Mainstream releases will generally follow the ESR branch from TB 17
> * A TB 17.1 release (which would be based on gecko ESR 17) is not

> desired at this moment in time

> o If we did change our minds and did want to do a TB 17.1, we'd

> need to change the decision by 19th November as that's about
> when the Beta channel becomes TB 18, which would make it
> difficult for us to downgrade users to a TB 17.1

> * Mainstream and ESR releases will not be merged at this stage, but

> will be kept separate to facilitate possible intermediate releases later

> * Thunderbird development will still follow the rapid release trains,

> i.e. central, aurora and beta

> o This would allow L10n to continue working as they are now
> o Betas will be cut down in frequency (probably one per cycle),

> until near the next ESR branch when they would be ramped up to
> help work on stability for the ESR release
>
> Open Question:
>

> * There is concern about keeping the stability of Thunderbird around

> the time of Gecko 24

> o We should look to ramp up our beta population
> o It has been suggested to release a Thunderbird 22 or 23 to the

> mainstream channel so that any stability issues can be resolved

> + This may not be early enough if there are API/L10n issues

> that need to be resolved

> + Earlier than 23, would also need community input to help
> with the releases
> o Another option would be to allow for a Gecko 24.1 (though this

> wouldn't help ESR users)

> o We'll need to monitor this and revisit it around the time of

> Gecko 20/21 to confirm the way ahead
>
> This is how I see it at the moment, but please speak up if you're
> understanding things differently or have questions etc.
>
> Mark.
>

Hi. Please specify where in the plan are security/stability/important
regression fixes (using some approval-comm-release flag) merged into the
release and ESR (if they are separate). Thanks

Otherwise I am OK with this plan.

aceman

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