[Kolab-devel] Missing version tags in git, missing releases, missing release notes

[Christian Mollekopf]

On Thursday 21 November 2013 13.29:23 Aeneas Jaißle wrote:
> Hi people,
> 

Hi Aeneas,

> three things that kind of bother me sometimes:
> 
> 1) I often find version tags missing when browsing git.kolab.org.
> See for example libkolabxml:
> 
> libkolabxml-0.8: last tag was 0.8.4 (2013-04-11), but on 2013-10-28 there
> was a version bump to 0.8.5.
> 
> master: last tag was 0.8.1 (2012-08-15), but current version in git is at
> least 1.0.1.
> 

What I think we should follow is "if it hasn't been tagged, it hasn't been 
released". I bump dependencies if the code requires it, so version numbers 
serve as a tool for the buildsystem to ensure all the right library versions 
are used. However, it's entirely possible (and IMO legitimate), for an 
unreleased version of i.e. libkolab to depend on an unreleased version of 
libkolabxml (0.8.5).

So if you can't find the tag, the reason generally is that the version hasn't 
been released and you shouldn't be using it (unless you're deliberately 
building snapshot versions). And if a released (tagged) version depends on 
something unreleased, that's a bug.

> 
> 2) Release sources are missing (I'm talking about a downloadable tar.gz of a
> defined version):
>   a) Releases get announced on an irregular basis, skipping some versions. I
> can't remember if pykolab-0.5.15 was announced, but it's the only 0.5
> version after 0.5.12 that is on mirror.kolabsys.com. Versions 0.5.13 and
> 0.5.14 are missing here, bur present on git.kolab.org.
>   b) A while ago, there was a release on mirror.kolabsys.com, but not on
> git.kolab.org - there was no snapshot created.
>   So -  where to look for new releases? How to monitor for new releases?
> 

I think this is for Jeroen to answer.

> 
> 3) Release notes are missing or not up-to-date. A little text with build-
> and runtime dependencies, recent changes and known issues would be
> appreciated :) (I for example do not yet know if there are
> incompatibilities between libkolabxml 0.8.5 and 1.0.1 - I'd have to build
> all packages using libkolabxml 1.0.1 and test my environments for
> dysfunctions)
> 

Build dependencies are handled by the buildsystem, and I'd rather avoid 
duplicating that. Similarly are dependencies handled; you cannot build 
libkolab 0.6/master with libkoabxml < 1.0.
Further are we using major version bumps to indicate incompatibilities, so 
there have indeed been source incompatible API changes between the 0.x and the 
1.x series of libkolabxml. But if you're using 1.x with a version of kolab 
that requires it, you can expect things to just work.

Runtime dependencies should indeed be part of the README, and if changed of 
the release notes as well. I should update that.

> Can we do anything about this?

Please let me know if this generally clarifies things, meaning I should 
document this publicly, or if you are looking for something else.

Cheers,
Christian
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