I really like the fact that Ubuntu releases are time based. However I think that we should not let so easily core/main features just stop working and let the release ship nevertheless.
Some examples with Intrepid :
- CD drives eat your fingers (LP: #283316)
- GNOME session is not remembered (LP: #249373)
- Bluetooth file reception cannot be set with the default tools (LP: #290875) and doesn’t work anymore by the way (LP: #211252, LP: #289836)
- Samba printers can’t print when no authentication is needed (LP: #283811)
I mean basic printing, burning/using CDs not working in a 2008 operating system, than can’t be real, right ?
My (humble) proposal :
- Any default feature that was previously working and is not working anymore should be a release blocker (of course explicit exception could be granted by the release team on a case by case basis).
- There should be an easy way in launchpad to mark and track such regressions.
- Release dates should be planned in the beginning of the month instead of the very end of the month so that if more time is needed we won’t have to renumber the release.
The fact that Intrepid release notes are so big should be an other indication as to why it was too early to release Intrepid IMHO.
I’m not whining or blaming anybody here, I can fix all these problems for my specific computers. However I think that users expect that what was working before will somewhat continue to work in the new release (I’m not speaking about performance regressions, regressions in packages not in main here, I know that we cannot avoid every regression). This is far more important than releasing on the exact planned day.