[Buildbot-devel] database-backed status/scheduler-state project

[Ben Hearsum]

On 2009-09-08, at 3:42 PM, exarkun at twistedmatrix.com wrote:

> On 07:00 pm, bhearsum at mozilla.com wrote:
>>
>> [snip]
>>>
>>> First, Buildbot is always going to be Use At Your Own Risk.  Very,
>>> little software is anything else, particularly software developed  
>>> by a
>>> loose group of individuals with no major assets to take in a  
>>> lawsuit.
>>> ;)
>>
>> I disagree. The *trunk* of Buildbot will always be in an unstable
>> state. I think that once we hit a certain milestone or state of  
>> things
>> (1.0, perhaps) there will be a "stable" line, which receives  
>> bugfixes,
>> non-API changing features, and maybe other things and at least one
>> development head where new and exciting things happen.
>>
>> Maybe that scenario is only living in my head but I think at some  
>> point
>> Buildbot *needs* to have a stable branch to help adoption and let
>> people receive necessary bugfixes without the risk of breaking their
>> world. I think this is a pretty common model.
>
> Well, okay.  Let's say I accept all of that.  Everyone works on  
> Buildbot
> trunk with the very best of intentions.  And then one day someone  
> makes
> a mistake, and burns down my factory.
>

There's a huge difference in degree here. Something mistakenly  
changing an API in a stable branch and not having a stable branch at  
all are two different things.

> Obviously, none.  That's what "use at your own risk" means to me.
> It sounds like you intended it to mean something more like "we're-not-
> really-trying-not-to-break-it development mode".  In the second  
> point I
> made, I tried to explain why I don't think it's legitimate to have  
> this
> style of development up to a point and then switch to the opposite
> afterwards.

I think it's entirely legitimate to switch when you reach a point  
where you can say "this is our first *stable* release". Buildbot is  
not at that state yet.

I'm really not in a position to dictate what happens with Buildbot, so  
I'm not going to take this tangent any further.