[Koha] Koha releases - Clarification/correction

[Chris Nighswonger]

2010/7/7 vtl at scls.lib.wi.us <vtl at scls.lib.wi.us>:
> Why are you rebasing the harley code into 3.2?  It was my understanding that
> PTFS knew it was too late for the code in harley to be included in 3.2, but
> that it could be integrated properly into 3.4.  That is why it was released
> in its entirety for now rather than as patches.

Harley is not being rebased over "3.2". Rather it is being rebased
over the current HEAD (the tip of the trunk so to speak) which also
happens to be the codebase that 3.2 stable will be branched off of.
For clarification: 3.2 stable will not include Harley features afaik.
What I describe is being accomplished using standard, good development
practices and maintaining various Harley integration branches which
are, in turn, kept rebased against the current HEAD. A basic
understanding of Git version control would probably help clarify the
answers to your questions.

>
> Also, I believe that code will be released more frequently from PTFS than
> every 6 months.  It is just that any given piece of code is going to be
> tested by the PTFS customer base first.  However, I believe their release
> cycle will be more frequent than 6 months (though I don't remember the
> frequency).

All of this us pure conjecture until we either a) hear from PTFS
directly (Shawn, where are you?) or b) time reveals the truth.

>
> How do other vendors develop their code?

In public git repositories. This has been discussed many, many times
on the list. You may see many of them here:
http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Public_Git_Repositories

> What is harely if it is not a
> branch?

Harley is at best a very dated topic branch off of some level of the
trunk (read "master") back there somewhere.

> Is it not considered a branch because it has not been rebased since
> October?

Technically, any branch is always a branch. However, as time and
distance increase, it really becomes its own trunk (again, read
"master") and so becomes nearly impossible to merge back into its
ancestor without a very great deal of work. It is this "very great
deal of work" that Chris and Galen are doing as they have time. And it
is true that this work is work that the original developer's should
have done if they were interested in being responsible members of the
Koha community. Also, the work being done by Chris and Galen in this
regard is work most devs would be expected to be paid for. By
integrating Harley code back into the official master, these two are
saving PTFS hours of labor and, of course, lots of dollars... all for
"free."

> (These are sincere questions on my part.)

HTH.

Kind Regards,
Chris