[all][tc] Release cadence terminology

Dan Smith dms at danplanet.com
Fri Apr 29 19:07:15 UTC 2022


>> Also suggestion: drop tick/tock from naming documentation please.
>> I never remember which is major and which is minor.
>
> This is a good point. From an internationalization perspective, the
> choice of wording could be especially confusing as it's an analogy
> for English onomatopoeia related to mechanical clocks. I doubt it
> would translate well (if at all).

I don't think there's any implication that one or the other is major or
minor. I certainly didn't think the word "tick" meant anything more
major or important than "tock". I chose "tick" as the slow-path one
simply because I think it makes sense to start the cycle on a slow path
release. Unless we choose "major and minor" or "long and short" or
"stable and unstable" (the latter of which is already taken and also not
correct anyway), I think people will have to learn which is which
regardless.

> In retrospect, adjusting the terminology to make 2023.1 the
> "primary" release of 2023, with 2023.2 as the "secondary" release of
> that year, makes it a bit more clear as to their relationship to one
> another. We can say that consumers are able to upgrade directly from
> one primary release to another, skipping secondary releases.

I also don't think "primary and secondary" are appropriate because they
have other connotations which also don't apply here. We decided that
"the release after Zed" would be the first in this cycle, and the
version of that is fixed based on when it is in the year. I don't think
we should tie the position of that release in the year to the notion of
the slow or fast cycle nature of them. Especially if we decide to change
that cadence to some other pattern in the future.

I chose "tick and tock" simply because there's precedent in the industry
and that's all. I think the terminology we choose is not going to be
fully intuitive and culturally appropriate for everyone on the planet,
much like release names. We've already documented and discussed these as
"tick and tock" and changing now/again will also bring its own
confusion.

See, isn't this naming stuff fun?

--Dan



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