Open Stack

Hi,

This is spun-out from the Oslo stable branches thread since it's a bit
more far-reaching.

Last cycle the introduction of release branches between feature freeze
and release candidates and subsequent capping on them ended up in a
gate-blocking disaster, and us spending weeks firefighting it to a solution.

In an effort to avoid that in Liberty, we talked about new solutions
(upper-constraints system in requirements) and processes to avoid that.
The upper-constraints system is now mostly in place, thanks to Robert
Collins for pushing it. That leaves us with the process we need to
follow at the end of the cycle. We brainstormed that in Vancouver for
about an hour and agreed the following would work:

1. Enable master->stable cross-check
2. Release Oslo, make stable branches for Oslo
2.1 Converge constraints
3. liberty-3 / FF / soft requirements freeze
4. hard requirements freeze
5. RC1 / make stable branches for services
6. Branch requirements, disable cross-check
7. Unfreeze requirements

It still feels reasonable on the face of it, but we need to double-check
it and expand on the details. In particular I'm wondering:

* is there anything in the implemented constraints system that changes
the deal here ?

* Is the new constraints system already set up to work on the upcoming
stable/liberty branches ?

* what did we exactly mean by "master->stable cross-check" ?

* what did we exactly mean by "Converge constraints" ?

With liberty-3 / FF being Thursday next week, we need to start
implementing steps 1, 2 and 2.1 in the next 10 days, so we need to
urgently check that this is still a valid plan (and any implementation
detail).

Regards,

-- 
Thierry Carrez (ttx)