Re: 8.4 release planning (was Re: [COMMITTERS] pgsql: Automatic view update rules)

Heikki Linnakangas <heikki(dot)linnakangas(at)enterprisedb(dot)com> writes:
> Jonah H. Harris wrote:
>> how can we expect this to change for 8.5? Can anyone point
>> out something Simon did wrong in this process?

> Not really, except maybe started 6 months too late. Big patches simply
> take a long time to mature.

Yeah, exactly. When we decided at PgCon that we needed to accept
replication into the core, we thought that there was a realistic chance
of it being in 8.4 if full-tilt development started *immediately*.
For one reason or another nothing much happened until September.
Simon's certainly been working hard on it since then, but it just
takes longer than four months for something like this to happen.

The alternatives that we realistically have got are:
* ship 8.4 "now" (ie before the summer) without HS, plan for HS in 8.5
* delay 8.4 to late summer and ship it with an unpolished HS feature
* delay 8.4 long enough to have a stable, polished HS feature; I claim
this will mean it's not out before Christmas.

I think anyone who thinks alternatives 2 or 3 will happen faster than
sketched here is living in dreamland.

So my feeling is that prudent project management would suggest that
HS go into 8.5 near the beginning of that development cycle, rather
than trying to push it into 8.4.

regards, tom lane