linux-kernel - Re: (Short?) merge window reminder

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Message-ID: <BANLkTinj1M_VSuvw1Sct8a6TLkUrEP_4uQ@mail.gmail.com>
Date:	Thu, 26 May 2011 22:44:24 -0700
From:	Keith Curtis <keithcu@...il.com>
To:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: (Short?) merge window reminder

Many interesting ideas on version numbering schemes. I like 2.11.X
because it maps to years easily in people's mind, but I look forward
to seeing what is chosen. You guys break many of the rules for
software development, so why not going backwards in version numbers
;-)

While you are talking about arbitrary numbers and new goals, I want to
offer that you could consider a push towards zero bugs. In general, as
long as your reliability monotonically increases (no regressions) that
is an acceptable minimum approach because it means that you will never
have a customer go from being happy to unhappy.

However, it is common in companies to make an effort to get towards
zero bugs. Zero bugs is impossible, and that is a philosophical
discussion. If you look through your current list of bugs, nearly
every one looks scary to me and important to someone. You currently
have 2,800 active bugs (http://bit.ly/LinuxBugs) The last time I
looked, I found the median age was 10 months. In general, bugs should
be fixed in the next release and so therefore 3 months.

Zero bug bounces is hard for the others because they don't have
sufficient resources. However, I believe you easily do. I can't say
that anything magical technically will happen if you work on your bugs
faster, but I can say that people I respect as much as you taught me
this. My salary was based on my ability to promptly respond to my
bugs, and zero was everyone's goal. Hitting zero, even for a minute,
could be a newsworthy event, as another way Linux is better than the
others. It also shows leadership to user mode. I sometimes get the
feeling that many in the FOSS community look at bugs as something they
could work on when they get bored of adding new features, instead of:
"Holy poop, there is someone unhappy out there."

Warm regards,

-Keith
http://keithcu.com/
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