Re: [CORE] Restore-reliability mode

On 5 June 2015 at 15:00, Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:

> On Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 2:50 AM, Simon Riggs <simon(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> wrote:
> > Agreed. Cleanup can occur while we release code for public testing.
>
> The code is available for public testing right now.

People test when they get the signal from us, not before. While what you
say is literally correct, that is not the point.

> Stamping it a
> beta implies that we think it's something fairly stable that we'd be
> pretty happy to release if things go well, which is a higher bar to
> clear.
>

We don't have a clear definition of what Beta means. For me, Beta has
always meant "trial software, please test".

I don't think anybody will say anything bad about us if we release a beta
and then later pull some of the features because we are not confident with
them when AFTER testing the feature is shown to be below our normal
standard; that will bring us credit, I feel. It is extremely common in
software development to defer some of the features if their goals aren't
met, or to change APIs and interfaces based upon user feedback.

Making decisions on what will definitely be in a release BEFORE testing and
feedback seems foolhardy and certainly not scientific.

None of this means I disagree with assessments of the current state of the
software, I'm saying that we should simply follow the normal process and
stick to the schedule we have previously agreed, for all of the reasons
cited when we agreed it.

--
Simon Riggs http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
<http://www.2ndquadrant.com/>
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services