Hi,
I'll be the release manager for Tails 1.2.1, scheduled to be released on
2014-11-25. I'll start with the schedule part for the preparation of the
final release:
2014-11-24 TBB 4.x based on Firefox 31.3.0esr is *hopefully* out
Tag 1.2.1 in Git
Build and upload 1.2.1 ISO and IUKs
2014-11-25 Test (early CEST) and release (late CEST) Tails 1.2.1
Yup, I've now adopted a test-and-release-on-the-same-day strategy. I
think I've only seen one instance when having a dedicated day for
testing was useful, and that was when we had to rebuild Tails 1.1. So
while that is useful, it's just not realistic any more now that we've
migrated to using the TBB; their release history shows that the final
tarballs rarely are available that early.
In the above schedule it's assumed that we'll have the TBB tarballs on
2014-11-24, and we'll have to see if that works out. [1] Expect updates
to this schedule, so please pay attention for new posts in this thread
and on the calendar [2] (now updated)!
[1]
https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tbb-dev/2014-October/000143.html
[2]
https://tails.boum.org/contribute/calendar/
So, Tails contributors, please let me know which of you are available
for testing the final image on 2014-11-25 (early CEST)!
Next up, the preliminary release schedule for the 1.2.1 release
candidate, *if* we feel we need one:
2014-11-05 Feature freeze
2014-11-12 Tag 1.2.1~rc1 in Git
Build and upload 1.2.1~rc1 ISO/IUKs
2014-11-13 Test (early CEST) and release (late CEST) 1.2.1~rc1
So we haven't had an RC for a point-release since 0.22.1-rc1 (unless we
count 1.0 as a point-release) and I believe that one wasn't even
formally released and tested. As I've recently become something like the
Eternal Chairman of Release Managing I do like this, but at least
intrigeri has asked for an exception to *maybe* push some features
(specifically AppArmor stuff) into either Tails 1.2.1 or Tails 1.2.2
(2015-01-06) given how long it is until the next major release (Tails
1.3 on 2015-02-17). If that happens for 1.2.1, we may want to consider
an RC.
However, intrigeri also proposed that we may skip a formal RC, and that
some of us still gather on IRC and collectively do some focused testing
of any new features we'd like to go into 1.2.1. If we do this, I'd still
propose this to happen on 2014-11-13. Personally, I would prefer this
option, but I'd like to hear what the rest of you think. Opinions?
In either case, I will be travelling 2014-11-07 to 2014-11-10, and do
not expect to be available much of that time, and this is a bit
problematic. That's why I've set the feature freeze to 2014-11-05, which
is just two weeks away. That's mostly to signal that any work intended
for 1.2.1 must be in good shape by then, because in practice I'll merge
stuff until 2014-11-12. My intention is to have reviewed and tested the
bulk of what's going into 1.2.1 by 2014-11-06. I hope this won't be an
issue.
So, Tails contributors, please let me know which of you are available
for testing the RC (or similar) image on 2014-11-13!
Cheers!
