Dear Masahiro Yamada,

In message 20130618112016.E74E.AA925319@jp.panasonic.com you wrote:

You fixed "Feb 09" to "May 11". "May 11" is true?

Yes, I think so.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Dear Masahiro Yamada,

In message 20130618143710.7439.AA925319@jp.panasonic.com you wrote:

If I see http://www.denx.de/wiki/rdiff/U-Boot/ReleaseCycle, you changed the merge window status from open to closed at Jun 14 (r1.95).

Correct. I fixed the page by making theedit that was forgotten when the MW was closed.

You mean, the merge windows closed at May 11, and Release Cycle page continued to provide the false information from May 11 to Jun 14. Right?

No. We forgot to edit this part of the page, so the end of the MW was that of the previous release. This error is even older than May 11.

If Release Cycle page is unreliable, where can I know the current merge window status?

Come on, please be fair. It's humans (in this case me) who can make errors, in in this case I missed to edit a line of text. This is bad and should not happen, but it can happen. You are the first to notice...

If you go further back in the version history of the page you can see the original release plan. In this case, we even shifted the end of the MW by a few days, as you can see here:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.boot-loaders.u-boot/159294

In general, the release schedule is based on very simple arithmetics:

- We release every 3 months.

- As release date we chose a Monday around mid-month.

- The merge window ends at Release Date + 19 days, i. e. on the Saturday in the 2nd week after the release.

Please don't hesitate toask if there are still any remaining doubts about the U-Boot release schedule.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Hi Masahiro,

On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:54:27 +0900, Masahiro Yamada yamada.m@jp.panasonic.com wrote:

How strict is the MW rule in U-Boot development?

I can't say for sure because I'm quite new here, but the development looks (at least to me) to keep going regardless of the MW status.

To sum up things (anyone correct me as needed):

- patches submitted within the merge window will be included in the upcoming release ('master' branch); patches submitted outside the merge window are scheduled for the release after ('next' branch).

- if V1 of a patch has initially been submitted during the merge window, then subsequent versions (V2, V3...) can be submitted after the merge window is closed, and will still be considered for inclusion in the upcoming (master branch) release.

- if a bugfix patch is submitted outside the merge window, it will be included in the upcoming (master branch) release.

- at the custodians' discretion, a non-bugfix patch submitted outside the merge window might still end in the upcoming release depending on its importance and impact.

- the nearer the release day, the lesser the chances that a patch submitted outside the merge window gets applied -- IOW, patches accepted between the last -rc and the release will only be critical bugfixes with a very controlled impact.

Therefore, you may see patches being submitted, discussed and applied at any time, within or outside the merge window; the only difference being xhich branch the patch goes to when/if applied.

Best Regards Masahiro Yamada

Amicalement,

Dear Masahiro Yamada,

In message 20130619105426.7444.AA925319@jp.panasonic.com you wrote:

Especailly after reading this http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.network/104943/focus=104951 Maybe I became a little nervous about the MW.

I'm not sure what you mean here?

Let me ask one more question.

How strict is the MW rule in U-Boot development?

Pretty strict, but we are no fanatics. If your patch is clearly local only (say, affecting definitely only your own board), then we may bend the rules a bit. Massiveglobal changes are a strict no, no, though.

I can't say for sure because I'm quite new here, but the development looks (at least to me) to keep going regardless of the MW status.

Of course development goes on continuously. But patches willnot be accepted into the current mainline tree until the net MW opens. Often there will be "next" trees or similar in the respective custodians repositories.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk