It’s that time again in the release cycle where we have to be bad guys to be good guys. We’re past deadline, we’re hitting the holidays, and if we don’t start cutting the cord, 3.3 will hang on until next year. Say it with me: Not again!
For the people working on the release, most of whom run trunk A directory in Subversion containing the latest development code in preparation for the next major release cycle. If you are running "trunk", then you are on the latest revision. on their own sites for at least a month or two (if not longer) before each launch, it’s easy to forget that features we had done months ago — flyout menus, drag and drop uploading — are still being hoarded by us (and more recently by the lucky recipients of a merge onto wordpress.com An online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/) and are not available on the sites of regular users. While we try to take the time to examine every bug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority., every fix, and every report of one of those not working, all the stuff that is done and working fine is just sitting there, waiting on the sidelines to be asked to dance by a happy WordPress user who’s still not even at the party.
It’s time for everyone to join the 3.3 party.
From the WordPress.org Philosophy page:
Deadlines are not arbitrary, they’re a promise we make to ourselves and our users that helps us rein in the endless possibilities of things that could be a part of every release. We aspire to release three major versions a year because through trial and error we’ve found that to be a good balance between getting cool stuff in each release and but not too much that we end up breaking more than we add.
Good deadlines almost always make you trim something from a release. This is not a bad thing, it’s what they’re supposed to do.
The route of delaying a release for that one-more-feature is, literally, a rabbit hole. We did that for over a year once, and it wasn’t pleasant for anybody.
The more frequent and regular releases are, the less important it is for any particular feature to be in this release. If it doesn’t make it for this one, it’ll just be a few months before the next one. When releases become unpredictable or few and far between, there’s more pressure to try and squeeze in that one more thing because it’s going to be so long before the next one. Delay begets delay.
So, here’s where we stand: We’ve had some unexpected big bugs (widgets, etc). We’ve had some people get sick. We’ve had some people traveling. Or moving. Or having kids, a job, a family, a life. It happens. We are one week away from our target launch date, and we still need to do beta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. 4 and an RC One of the final stages in the version release cycle, this version signals the potential to be a final release to the public. Also see alpha (beta). cycle. Clearly we will be launching late.
As of today, we are a steamroller paving the way to 3.3 launch. There are 36 tickets right now. Of those, a few are still time-consuming blockers. Yes, those have to get fixed. If someone can’t write content, that’s a big problem. Pretty much everything else that still needs work will be moved to 3.4-early. Note that “has-patch A special text file that describes changes to code, by identifying the files and lines which are added, removed, and altered. It may also be referred to as a diff. A patch can be applied to a codebase for testing.” is not the same as “has-patch and has been agreed upon as a patch we should include in core Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress..” Patches needing more work… need more work.
So instead of yelling, “How dare you punt Contributors sometimes use the verb "punt" when talking about a ticket. This means it is being pushed out to a future release. This typically occurs for lower priority tickets near the end of the release cycle that don't "make the cut." In this is colloquial usage of the word, it means to delay or equivocate. (It also describes a play in American football where a team essentially passes up on an opportunity, hoping to put themselves in a better position later to try again.) my bug!” please instead focus on how important it is for us to get this release out, and the sooner we do, the sooner we can get back to all the things that got punted or postponed as we start the 3.4 cycle. Hey, we punted our pet projects that weren’t done in time too — language packs, some of the responsive admin (and super admin) stuff, pointers on the new-install tour, etc. No one was spared. (And believe me, I really wanted those pointers.)
So, countdown to 3.3 should start now. I’d offer a betting pool, but since we could totally rig it, that would be lame. If we can do beta 4 today, RC1 after the US Thanksgiving holiday, we could still release before the core team meetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. in mid-Dec. We postponed a release until after the meetup last year, and I wish we hadn’t. So let’s just get this sucker out the door, yeah?
Shipping is a feature. 🙂
And remember, since you run trunk, you’ll get all that 3.4 goodness before you know it!
#3-3
