There have been a lot of comments about the package naming scheme and numbering scheme. I confess that these issues do not seem that important to me, as the user just clicks on a url, but I recognize that they are very important to others.

This is why I believe that D needs a Build Master. This person needs to be someone who ensures that the packages are all properly built, the build scripts work, the versions are done right, the git tags are done, etc., and takes pride in it being done to perfection.

(Note that because dmd changes constantly, and the operating system targets also change constantly, the package build scripts constantly break.)

Eventually, I'd like at least the package builds to be done automatically by Brad's autotester. But someone still needs to make sure it is working properly and keeps working properly.

On Wednesday, 6 November 2013 at 21:25:46 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
> There have been a lot of comments about the package naming scheme and numbering scheme. I confess that these issues do not seem that important to me, as the user just clicks on a url, but I recognize that they are very important to others.
>
> This is why I believe that D needs a Build Master. This person needs to be someone who ensures that the packages are all properly built, the build scripts work, the versions are done right, the git tags are done, etc., and takes pride in it being done to perfection.
>
> (Note that because dmd changes constantly, and the operating system targets also change constantly, the package build scripts constantly break.)
>
> Eventually, I'd like at least the package builds to be done automatically by Brad's autotester. But someone still needs to make sure it is working properly and keeps working properly.

It might need to be multiple people because very few people are experts in every platform supported. Maybe a release manager with more "platform lieutenants" to help.

In any case, I think this is a good idea.

Nick's tool should help whomever takes on this job until the autotester stuff is in place: https://github.com/D-Programming-Language/installer/pull/24

On 11/6/2013 1:43 PM, Brad Anderson wrote:
> It might need to be multiple people because very few people are experts in every
> platform supported. Maybe a release manager with more "platform lieutenants" to
> help.

Of course. Being in charge of something doesn't mean being expert at all of it or doing all the work - help from others will be necessary.

On 2013-11-06 22:43, Brad Anderson wrote:

> It might need to be multiple people because very few people are experts
> in every platform supported. Maybe a release manager with more "platform
> lieutenants" to help.

I can help out with Mac OS X.

-- 
/Jacob Carlborg

Good to have a thread on it, thank you for taking this step Walter !

Although, it looks to me that the numbering scheme and the git tags are not
related to the build, but rather related to the release.
So you might consider a release master, not just build.
This will involve doing (or delegating to the proper person) the changelog,
define a release cycle, which will include pre-release (rc / sanity check),
release (communication / building / test / upload ...), and possibly
post-release (be sure the security fixes are being backported to the
supported versions, ie) actions.
IMO that would be very beneficial for D to have someone holding that role.


2013/11/7 Walter Bright <newshound2@digitalmars.com>

> On 11/6/2013 1:43 PM, Brad Anderson wrote:
>
>> It might need to be multiple people because very few people are experts
>> in every
>> platform supported. Maybe a release manager with more "platform
>> lieutenants" to
>> help.
>>
>
> Of course. Being in charge of something doesn't mean being expert at all of it or doing all the work - help from others will be necessary.
>

Unfortunately, I can't help here because already volunteered for stuff much over my spare capabilities. But I wanted to note that this is not just about stepping up and being willing to help - such person would need to have a "push" access to website, repositories, ftp and any other infrastructure related to release. I hope you don't expect this stuff to work without "giving the keys" to someone? :)

On 2013-11-07 08:57, Mathias Lang wrote:
> Good to have a thread on it, thank you for taking this step Walter !
>
> Although, it looks to me that the numbering scheme and the git tags are
> not related to the build, but rather related to the release.
> So you might consider a release master, not just build.
> This will involve doing (or delegating to the proper person) the
> changelog, define a release cycle, which will include pre-release (rc /
> sanity check), release (communication / building / test / upload ...),
> and possibly post-release (be sure the security fixes are being
> backported to the supported versions, ie) actions.
> IMO that would be very beneficial for D to have someone holding that role.

I fully agree.

-- 
/Jacob Carlborg

On Wednesday, 6 November 2013 at 21:25:46 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
> There have been a lot of comments about the package naming scheme and numbering scheme. I confess that these issues do not seem that important to me, as the user just clicks on a url, but I recognize that they are very important to others.
>
> This is why I believe that D needs a Build Master. This person needs to be someone who ensures that the packages are all properly built, the build scripts work, the versions are done right, the git tags are done, etc., and takes pride in it being done to perfection.
>
> (Note that because dmd changes constantly, and the operating system targets also change constantly, the package build scripts constantly break.)
>
> Eventually, I'd like at least the package builds to be done automatically by Brad's autotester. But someone still needs to make sure it is working properly and keeps working properly.

This is why large projects have release manager(s). The more D becomes popular, the more work will be performed by this individual, or individuals. Especially if we want to support various Linux distributions, etc...

On 11/7/13 5:04 AM, Dicebot wrote:
> Unfortunately, I can't help here because already volunteered for stuff
> much over my spare capabilities. But I wanted to note that this is not
> just about stepping up and being willing to help - such person would
> need to have a "push" access to website, repositories, ftp and any other
> infrastructure related to release. I hope you don't expect this stuff to
> work without "giving the keys" to someone? :)

No worries, we'll provide the appropriate access.

Andrei

On 11/6/2013 11:55 PM, Jacob Carlborg wrote:
> I can help out with Mac OS X.

And I appreciate that!