Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!unisoft!hoptoad!gnu From: gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) Newsgroups: news.software.b Subject: Re: News 3.0 Message-ID: <4751@hoptoad.uucp> Date: 20 Jun 88 06:57:07 GMT References: <4460@killer.uucp> <11271@steinmetz.ge.com> Organization: Grasshopper Group in San Francisco Lines: 32 eric@snark.UUCP (Eric S. Raymond) wrote: > I think I'm ready for release, and am just polishing at this point... > But I'm waiting on the NNTP and NFS support changes... > I guess I have to set myself a deadline. I'll ship what I have August 1st. > If that's missing NNTP/NFS code, that'll just have to do; it can be a patch. I've talked with Eric about this, but maybe it's time to get the net involved. IT'S SUICIDE TO RELEASE A MAJOR NETNEWS RELEASE WITHOUT SERIOUS TESTING! Last I talked with him, News 3.0 was running on about 5 machines, TOTAL. It's only running in production on ONE -- snark, Eric's machine. It needs to go through alpha and a beta tests with say 10 sites using it in production in alpha, and 50 in beta. I'd recommend having a couple of backbone sites in the alpha test, and upgrading most of the rest of the backbone toward the end of the beta test. After it has burned-in for a month or so, and it really works and really ports and has true blue easy to read installation instructions, THEN is the time to post it. Not August first. But when it works. The time to start the alpha testing is now, not when NNTP and NFS code shows up. There are plenty of bugs waiting to be found on non-ethernetted sites. We could use a serious volunteer as alpha and beta test coordinator. This will burn a couple months of your time. The job is a smooth transition on 8000 sites to a major new network software release. Any takers? -- John Gilmore {sun,pacbell,uunet,pyramid,amdahl}!hoptoad!gnu gnu@toad.com "And if there's danger don't you try to overlook it, Because you knew the job was dangerous when you took it"