Release timing

[Gervase Markham]

While just dumping 2.18 and going straight to 2.20 (under whatever name) 
seems very attractive, our users are clamouring for a stable release 
ASAP. See, for example, the posts on this list from the SSH guy and 
others. I think that, having put all this work in (all we need is a 
status update), we need to kick it out of the door. So abandoning 2.18 
is really not an option at this stage.

So what are the possible reasons for branching for 2.20 very soon?

- Have we got many features over 2.18? Not really.
- Has it been around six months since our last release? No :-)

The only reason I can see to release 2.20 soon is because now is about 
the time we said we'd release it when we did the initial plan a year 
ago. There's a much-parodied but useful saying in my company: "A plan is 
a basis for change". So much has changed in the circumstances; is now 
not time to change the plan?

If we are really planning to support every release for 18 months, having 
releases closer than 6 months apart would be horrible. I suggest that 
option c) is correct.

We should unfreeze the trunk, check in all those patches which are 
waiting, and refreeze about four months after the date we release 2.18, 
aiming to release 2.20 six months after that date.

Gerv