Re: Update on 2016 Firefox Release Schedule

I think this new schedule is great.

But as someone new to the process I saw a lot of pain shipping Firefox 43
between Mozlando and Christmas, people were finding mission critical issues
and trying to fix them, whilst being on holiday. The pressure and stress I
saw often led to the question"exactly why do we need to ship right now
instead of waiting a couple of weeks?".

It seems the cost to the team, the developer community and Firefox users
isn't worth it unless we can get that shipping smoother and more reliable.
The real answer is to find a way to ship Firefox easier and smoother and I
think everyone is working towards that.

On Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 5:10 PM, Dave Herman <[email protected]> wrote:

> I'm concerned about the suggestion that we could start delaying trains,
> especially on an ad hoc basis. Trains work because of predictability and
> frequency.
>
> It's hard for me to quite understand the rationale behind varying the
> schedule, but if it's because of things like quality issues, say, from
> shipping features before they're adequately tested, then delaying trains
> will actually exacerbate the problems, not fix them. The less people can
> depend on trains, the more pressure they will feel to ship early, which is
> precisely the thing you were trying to address. If the problem with
> holidays and such is that people are trying to cram features in at the last
> minute, then again, delaying trains and making them less predictable will
> exacerbate that.
>
> Regardless of the rationale, adding variability and uncertainty into the
> train system works directly at odds with what it has been so successful at
> achieving -- not just for Firefox, but for Chrome and Rust, for example.
> This isn't a small thing: giving credit where due, I see trains as the best
> thing Chrome ever did for the web. It's been one of the biggest drivers in
> pushing the platform forward. I would hate to see us regress in our
> contribution to that part of our mission.
>
> Dave
>
> On Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 12:50 PM, Lawrence Mandel <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> > Four years ago Mozilla moved to a fixed-schedule release model, otherwise
> > known as the Train Model
> > <https://blog.mozilla.org/channels/2011/07/18/every-six-weeks/>, in
> which
> > we released Firefox every six weeks to get features and updates to users
> > faster and move at the speed of the Web. We studied the process carefully
> > and learned a lot. We have also identified additional areas for
> improvement
> > and it’s time we iterate again.
> >
> > We are moving to a variably scheduled six-to-eight week release cycle for
> > Firefox. With this new release cycle, we will deliver the same number of
> > releases per year but gain a few significant benefits over the previous
> six
> > week fixed model.
> >
> > For example, we will now be able to adjust release dates to respond to
> > emerging user and market needs and provide at least six working weeks for
> > every release. We also want to help support the well-being and
> > connectedness of our global Mozilla community by specifically allowing
> time
> > for holidays.
> >
> > You’ll find the 2016 Firefox release schedule listed below and in the
> > following Wiki <https://wiki.mozilla.org/RapidRelease/Calendar>.
> >
> >
> > This note has also been posted to the Future of Firefox blog
> > <
> >
> https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2016/02/04/update-on-2016-firefox-release-schedule
> > >
> > .
> >
> >
> > 2016 Firefox Release Schedule
> >
> > 2016-01-26 - Firefox 44
> >
> > 2016-03-08 - Firefox 45, ESR 45 (6 weeks cycle)
> >
> > 2016-04-19 - Firefox 46 (6 weeks cycle)
> >
> > 2016-06-07 - Firefox 47 (7 weeks cycle)
> >
> > 2016-08-02 - Firefox 48 (8 weeks cycle)
> >
> > 2016-09-13 - Firefox 49 (6 weeks cycle)
> >
> > 2016-11-08 - Firefox 50 (8 weeks cycle)
> >
> > 2016-12-13 - Firefox 50.0.1 (5 week cycle, release for critical fixes as
> > needed)
> >
> > 2017-01-24 - Firefox 51 (6 weeks from prior release)
> >
> > Note: Firefox ESR will continue to ship point releases on the same day
> that
> > Firefox ships.
> >
> >
> > Lawrence
> > _______________________________________________
> > dev-planning mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-planning
> >
> _______________________________________________
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