perfsonar development work

[Jochen Reinwand <>]

Hi,

I totally agree with the versioning scheme, but I have a problem with the 
update suggestions. They are the opposite of what is normally suggested and 
what a user normally expects.

Let me explain:

> 1) Major Releases (ex: 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 , etc)
> - Releases which include schema changes, major features and
> enhancements. Can also include critical bug fixes. Users are strongly
> suggested to update to new versions.

New major releases tend to be incompatible and not as stable as the current 
minor version of the previous major release. Users often wait therefore for 
the next minor release (x.1) of new major releases and expect the last major 
release to be still supported. At least important bug fixes should be 
available.

> 2) Minor Releases (1.1, 1.2, 1.3)
> - Updates to services, new features, fixes to major bugs (which qualify
> for a new minor version, etc). Users are suggested to update to these
> versions but this might not be a critical update.

Normally features enhancements are smaller and therefore incompatibility and 
stability issues should not arise. And if there are any, they are considered 
as severe bugs. Users should normally update, but the last minor release 
should still get security related and important bug fixes.

> 3) Bug fixes or extra minor releases (1.1.0, 1.1.2, etc)
> - Minor bug fixes - affected ones will be required to update but maybe
> not all.

Only bug fixes (_especially_ for severe and security related bugs) are the 
reason for extra minor releases. Users MUST upgrade since security and 
stability are most likely affected and there should not arise any 
incompatibility and stability issues since no real changes were applied.

Correct me if I'm wrong!

I just never heard of a software that sees new major releases as mandatory 
and 
extra minor version (aka. bug fix versions) as unimportant.
Just look at all OpenSource projects and also e.g. Microsoft: You really 
should install updates and Service Packs, but Microsoft is supporting old 
Windows versions a long time. They don't really want to, but they have to ;-)

regards,
Jochen

-- 
Jochen Reinwand                                 Tel: +49 9131 852-8689
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