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View Full Version : What's going on during a development cycle - writting a summary



MadsRH
December 21st, 2009, 09:25 PM
Hi
I'm thinking about creating a Youtube video that briefly explains what goes into a release cycle. I desperately need help with this, so if you want to contribute in any way, I will appreciate it :-D Also, if you think this project is a waste of time, please let me know ;-)

For the video I will create some (hopefully) slick animations, but I need help writing the text for the speaker. I've made a short draft about Alpha releases below:


- About releases:

Explain six month cycle
LTS
Alpha/BETA/RC/Final terms.
The software release life cycle is composed of different stages that describe the stability of a piece of software and the amount as the development process proceeds.
Alpha releases are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs. With just a few spare minutes, you can provide valuable feedback on a test release and help polish and stabilize it.

Perhaps include something like:

The Alpha images are known to be buggy, but reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot release.

Ubuntu provides a list of known bugs (that you don't need to report if you encounter) at: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/

Do not install anything but the stable release on production machines.

There's a series of Alpha milestone CD images that will be released throughout the development cycle. Usually there's six alpha releases, but this may vary.

The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer.

Anyway, besides writing about the different types of releases, the next step is explaining what happens during a release cycle.


- What's happening during a release cycle:


Toolchain
UDS
Feature Definition Freeze
Debian Import Freeze
Feature Freeze
User Interface Freeze
Kernel freeze
DocumentationStringFreeze


The text must be no longer than what a speaker can read while the related graphics/animation is showing.

This is a huge project, but please help making Ubuntu development easier to understand by contributing to this project :lol:

MadsRH
December 22nd, 2009, 11:46 AM
Seriously, does no one want to help? :(

Is this really such a bad idea that no one even wants to make a comment? :confused:

23meg
December 22nd, 2009, 12:38 PM
Good idea; it can help many people who won't be able to find and/or bother reading the existing documentation on what happens along the cycle. Let's do it.

I've copied your text to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DevelopmentCycleVideo. I'll play with the structure a bit; can we meet on Freenode, perhaps in a few hours, to discuss further changes?

MadsRH
December 22nd, 2009, 05:35 PM
Good idea; it can help many people who won't be able to find and/or bother reading the existing documentation on what happens along the cycle. Let's do it.

I've copied your text to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DevelopmentCycleVideo. I'll play with the structure a bit; can we meet on Freenode, perhaps in a few hours, to discuss further changes?

Thank you so much for the feedback! I'm glad you want to help out and thanks for creating the wiki. Today I'm having chrismas dinner with family, so we'll have to arrange a discussion some other day - sorry.

MadsRH
December 31st, 2009, 10:57 AM
Hi 23meg and everybody else who might be interested.

I need more help before I can start working on the Development cycle video.
Instead I started working on a more beginner friendly video with basic information about releases. I've written some text (haven't found anyone who speaks native english to do the recording) and created a draft for the animation (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DevelopmentCycleVideo?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=releaseschedule_demo.ogv). Check it out here (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DevelopmentCycleVideo) and PLEASE post feedback!


Thanks...

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DevelopmentCycleVideo

b3t0n
January 11th, 2010, 07:39 PM
Hello there. I've just seen your first video and I've got to say I'm impressed. It's quick and easy way to learn what all the numbers are, what is LTS, and some other things. Hope there will be more of them.

If there is some way I can help, please say what you need and I'll see what I can do:)

Cheers.

slakkie
January 11th, 2010, 07:49 PM
Think it is Chrome, but the vid is not playing.

Xbehave
January 11th, 2010, 08:09 PM
Seriously, does no one want to help? :(

Is this really such a bad idea that no one even wants to make a comment? :confused:
I like the idea but wasn't sure what the title of the post meant, there are many development cycles. I also don't know much beyond the obvious so have nothing helpful to say other than it's a good idea.

video works ok in firefox, but it's ogv so you can download and play/copy the URL and stream with mplayer

Resu
January 12th, 2010, 03:33 PM
I just saw the video and I've very impressed. The animation was very smooth, the voice sounded great, and the overall presentation was wonderful.

quinnten83
January 12th, 2010, 10:06 PM
I just saw your video on Miro and it looked great. Very impressive. Very slick, clean and fluent.
I am very curious about what you used to create the animation.
I would be ever so greatful if you could tell me.

Again, great work and can't wait to see the other ones coming up.