Release branching (was Re: [ANNOUNCEMENT] Cygwin setup.exe bugfix release 2.510.2.2)

[Max Bowsher]

Christopher Faylor wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 08, 2005 at 06:23:16PM +0100, Max Bowsher wrote:
>> Brian Dessent wrote:
>>> However, I think the larger question is do we *really* need a release
>>> branch?  I only did it this time because it seems to be established
>>> procedure, but I see no real reason to continue it.  I guess it made
>>> sense in prior times when there were destabilising changes being made on
>>> HEAD, but is this something that's still relevent?
>>
>> I think it is always worthwhile creating a release branch, because it is
>> trivial to do at the time, but more awkward to do retroactively.
>>
>> I would, however, not bother to bump the ChangeLog revision on the branch
>> just to make the version number change - so, I would have released 2.510,
>> and the first bugfix would then be 2.510.2.1.
>>
>> The reason for creating the branch is that it gives you the option to 
>> make
>> a minimal workaround on the branch, and release quickly, whilst working 
>> on
>> a better-designed fix on trunk, should it be necessary.
>
> You can accomplish the same thing by tagging the trunk and then
> branching later, if you need to do that.

A branch is just a special kind of tag, so we might as well just do a 
branch-tag in the first place.

> If this was a project with lots of activity and lots of developers, I
> could see branching.  It just seems like an inconvenience in this case.

Regardless of any other factors, it's nice to have a record in CVS of what 
we released.
And, there should be no inconvenience beyond the one command to make the 
branchtag.

Max.