[LLVMdev] llvm release criteria?

[Tanya Lattner]

On Dec 29, 2007, at 8:04 AM, Jack Howarth wrote:

>   I noticed that llvm 2.2 is slated for release on
> Feb. 4th of 2008. Do the llvm 2.2 releases mimic
> those of FSF gcc by requiring no major regressions
> for the release? For example, would Bug 1462
> (CodeGen doesn't fully support i128) likely be
> fixed for 2.2 (even though it as marked as priority 2)?
> Also, how are the merges with the Apple GCC 4.2
> branch handled? Are those done at some regular interval?
> I assume no further merges could occur after the code freeze
> on Jan. 16th of course. Thanks in advance for any insights
> in the release mechanism of llvm and llvm-gcc.

For each LLVM release, the main criteria is there may be no new  
regressions from the previous release. We consider both the dejagnu  
tests and the llvm-tests. If a regression is found, it usually gets  
fixed during the first phase of testing. Very rarely do we have a  
major problem that delays a release. This is because of our nightly  
testing infrastructure which catches things very early on.

Secondly, we do time based releases. So unless someone is able to  
complete bug 1462 before the beginning of Jan, it will not be in the  
release. We do not schedule bugs to be completed for specific releases.

I do not believe we have a set schedule for merges with the Apple GCC  
4.2. This may need to be addressed in the future. Bill can correct me  
on this.

> ps I am mainly trying to puzzle out if llvm 2.2 releases
> are true releases or more like very well stablized
> snapshots (compared to the definition of a FSF gcc
> release). Also, is the Apple gcc 4.2 branch viewable
> for those outside of Apple?

They are much more than snapshots. We do a lot of testing to ensure  
that the release is regression free from the previous release and so  
the end-user will have a positive experience. However, another  
important thing to point out is that LLVM does not use branches for  
release development. We do everything on mainline and have a good team  
of people who do code reviews and watch the nightly testers to ensure  
that new regressions are not introduced. So a lot of the work is done  
during the development cycle.

Apple gcc 4.2 is not currently viewable outside of apple. I believe  
when its officially released they put up a snapshot, but you should  
ask them directly for more information.

-Tanya


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