As an experiment, there will not be a complete ports freeze ahead of the release of 8.0.  To ensure that the tree is kept in a stable condition, we do need to have more discipline about the feature freeze we are currently using.  To achieve this, I have added a new tag to the commit log Feature safe: which needs to be set to yes explicitly for each commit.  While this is is tedious, it does mean that commits will be allowed without prior explicit approval from portmgr.  Portmgr is still working on a written set of rules for what is and isn’t allowed during a feature freeze, so please use common sense for now, and try to err on the side of caution and contact portmgr when in any doubt.  Sweeping commits touching a large number of ports, shared library updates affect more than a trivial number of ports, you get the picture; anything that would require a rebuild of more than a trivial amount of ports is not allowed without prior approval from portmgr.  With the release only a few weeks off, we cannot afford any major mishaps, so be conservative.

The feature freeze is enforced from right now and current plan is to tag the tree after RC1 is released.  There will be a short freeze while the tag is processed, and after that we will proceed with the ports slush as usual.

Please consider your commits in this light and help make this experiment a success so we can avoid long freezes for future releases.

Earlier today, Ken Smith bumped the version of the HEAD sources to 9.0.  I have just modified the scripts to make INDEX-8 based on RELENG_8 and add support for INDEX-9 based on HEAD.  They are available for ‘make fetchindex’ now.  Mark Linimon is working on adding 9 to the pointyhat scripts, so expect the first 9-current packages to be available later this week.

Packages for the release of 8.0 have been built for i386 and amd64, with a few days to go for sparc64.  They are currently not available on the mirrors yet, but will be included on the BETA3 cd sets.  Please give them as much testing as you can.  With the first iterations of the package sets already finished, we are currently in a soft feature freeze, and if no major changes appear, we do expect to keep the freeze very short.  Although the exact date is dependent on how the release progress in general progresses, it is currently expected to start at September 14 and last for two weeks.  Please don’t hesitate to contact portmgr@ if you have any questions or doubts whether a given change would be too big for the feature freeze.

Below is the tentative schedule for the ports freeze in preparation for 8.0-RELEASE. If any major delays occur in the overall release schedule, the dates may be postponed, but please start preparing to have your changed committed to the tree before August 17 to ensure they are included in the release. Also, portmgr kindly asks anyone who has anything major lined up to already from today start mailing portmgr about these so we know what to expect and not be surprised by any major fallout that might extend the short freeze we have planned.

August 17: ports tree is frozen and package build begin
August 24: ports tree is thawed and final package builds begin
August 31: FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE is released and ports tree is unfrozen

Portmgr is happy to announce that two new members will join the team.

Martin Wilke has been one of our most active committers since receiving his commit bit today 3 years ago. He has been working in a number of subgroups including python, ports-security and the KDE team.

Ion-Mihai Tetcu has been interested in regression testing and qualitiy assurance, creating QAT automated tinderbox testing of all port commits on a per-commit basis, and adding on-the-fly feedback to the snapshot builds from the pointyhat package cluster.

Unfortunately, we will also be saying goodbye to Kirill Ponomarew, who hasn’t had much time to spend on FreeBSD and will be stepping down from portmgr.

We thank Kirill for all his contributions in the past and wish Martin and Ion-Mihai the best of luck with the new tasks bestowed upon them.

The ports tree is now tagged and partially thawed. Until 7.2 is released, sweeping commits still need explicit approval from portmgr to assure that tags can be slipped for potential security issues. For more information what constitutes a sweeping change, see the portmgr web pages.

The ports tree is now frozen for the 7.2 release cycle.

No commits will be allowed without explicit portmgr approval. We hope we can keep the freeze short and go into slush after two weeks. The tree will be completely unfrozen after the release is announced. For the full schedule, see the release schedule.

As always, only commit that fix existing breakage will be allowed during the freeze and we encourage everyone will help fix as many ports as possible for this release. For more information about what kinds of commits are allowed during which period, please see the portmgr policies webpage.

The ports freeze for the upcoming release of 7.2 will start in one week time on April 13. Release packages will be built immediately and have to be ready for RC2 which is scheduled for April 20. To keep the freeze as short as possible, the date might be moved depending on any delays in the src release process. Also, to keep this freeze this short we kindly ask anyone with commits in their queues that might have any larger effect on the packages to run their changes by portmgr from today to make sure no new regressions are introduced.

As always, we are looking for volunteers to fix outstanding errors, and this is a good time to focus on existing errors and regressions instead of new features to make sure as many packages can be included in the
release.

For a list of outstanding build errors, please see this link.

Remember: All commits after April 13 need explicit approval from portmgr!

Quoting Joe Marcus Clarke:

The ports tree has been unfrozen, and is now in the usual “slush” state
pending the releases of 6.4 and 7.1. This means no sweeping commits (or
commits which change a large number of files) until these releases are
announced. If you are in doubt as to whether or not a commit could be
considered sweeping, please ask portmgr.

A short description of what a sweeping commit is, can be seen on the portmgr webpage, or send us an email.

In preparation for both the 6.4 and 7.1 releases, the ports tree has been frozen. All commits have to be approved by portmgr. See the portmgr webpage for more information about what is and isn’t allowed during the freeze. We are aiming for a short freeze period, so we will be quite strict in allowing commits during the freeze. Of course, we do appreciate any help fixing existing errors in the tree, so if anyone is bored, a good starting point will be portsmon.

Two more people fell for the usual trick. Apart from sending the usual many PRs, Max Brazhnikov has been very helpful in the KDE4 upgrade that happened a few weeks ago and Martin Wilke sponsored him for a commit bit. Josh Paetzel has been around for a long time, both on the mailinglists and IRC, and of course, sending a lot of patches, and Ade Lovett decided to sponsor a commit bit for him. Welcome to the both of you!