11.2 Release Schedule Delays

NickW

Cadet
Joined
Oct 6, 2018
Messages
3
I'd like to start by extending my thanks to the development team and to all of the people who contribute bug reports and feature requests. FreeNAS is a great product, worthy of a lot of respect.

With that said, I have been paying attention to the release schedule from early last year, and particularly around the v11.2 releases, and, in comparison to the commercial compute/storage world in which I work, there is a real pattern of release dates being deferred on almost every version, frequently when there are zero outstanding defects or feature requests assigned to that version on the bug tracker.

The release delays are very frustrating to those people waiting for fixes that have already been identified and resolved in the run up to the original published release date, especially as the number of fixed bugs helping to settle the new UI and middleware down into a truly usable, production stable state is not insignificant.

I would be really interested in feedback from the mods and development team on whether there might be an improved approach that could help the actual releases occur more frequently on the dates published in the roadmap. Naturally, I do understand that those dates are estimates only and that a free product is being delivered by a group of hard-working, talented and dedicated people. It can't be denied, however, that publishing dates in the first place does set a level of not unreasonable expectation from the user base.

Mods ... if this isn't the right place (or platform) for this post, I'm happy for it to be moved elsewhere.

Thanks all.

Nick
 

millst

Contributor
Joined
Feb 2, 2015
Messages
141
3 items are marked ready for test. The roadmap display is misleading for how you’re using it. On top of that, things can be marked private. I doubt that redmine even encompasses every single thing necessary for a release to go out.

Maybe best to be patient. Sure, you’ll get that bug fix you wanted, but might get 5 new bugs with it. :)
 

Ericloewe

Server Wrangler
Moderator
Joined
Feb 15, 2014
Messages
20,176
Also, private tickets are accounted for but not actually listed with the rest. A couple of days of Q/A are typical after everything is closed, too.
 

jgreco

Resident Grinch
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
18,681
With that said, I have been paying attention to the release schedule from early last year, and particularly around the v11.2 releases, and, in comparison to the commercial compute/storage world in which I work, there is a real pattern of release dates being deferred on almost every version, frequently when there are zero outstanding defects or feature requests assigned to that version on the bug tracker.

The release delays are very frustrating to those people waiting for fixes that have already been identified and resolved in the run up to the original published release date, especially as the number of fixed bugs helping to settle the new UI and middleware down into a truly usable, production stable state is not insignificant.

I seem to be reading into this an implication that you've undergone cycles of anxiously awaiting the next release, which suggests that you're installing it right away.

This is rarely a good idea if you are in search of a production stable product....
 

Constantin

Vampire Pig
Joined
May 19, 2017
Messages
1,828
I'm sure if if more people contributed to FreeNAS, development might speed up a bit, mythical man/woman/person-month or not.

I do wonder if the monthly sustainer link for Paypal has been fixed yet.

I am looking forward to built-in SMB support for TimeMachine, etc. in the coming versions. Definitely worth the wait.
 
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