[785] in Release_7.7_team
Release Team Proposal Re N42 Moving
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mike Barker)
Sun Nov 17 11:45:07 1996
To: release-team@MIT.EDU
Cc: acmg@MIT.EDU, n42-dt@MIT.EDU
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 11:44:54 EST
From: Mike Barker <mbarker@MIT.EDU>
Last Thursday (11/14), some of the release team members discussed the
potential impact of the N42 move on the release schedule.
There are two parts of our expected summer release. First is the
Solaris 2.5 release. We expected that this development can be
expedited, with the aim of having general release early in June. This
will allow time for adjustment and problem-solving during June.
Second is the IRIX 6.3 release. This is necessary to support the new O2
hardware. However, since we do not yet have even a target release-date
for AFS (the Transarc file system used on all our platforms), and the
expected problems with moving Athena to IRIX 6.x are much greater, we do
not consider it reasonable to try to accelerate this development.
Instead, we propose that we hold off on general deployment of O2 systems
until later in the year (end of October or November, depending on the
moving schedule). We will continue to work on IRIX 6.2 and 6.3, perhaps
even having field release early in the summer, but postpone the general
release and support problems until "the dust has settled" from the move.
To the best of our knowledge, at present there are no classes planned or
other requirements based on third-party packages only available on the
O2 or under IRIX 6.3. This could change, and we would like to advise
faculty early that we recommend that they not make such plans for the
fall semester.
"After the move" probably translates into mid-semester. This has its
own dangers, and may not be considered acceptable. The next time for a
general release would be during winter break, and delays in the IRIX
development could push this back to that point.
Essentially, we believe completing IRIX 6.3 development for the summer
release was unlikely, and with the additional difficulties expected due
to the N42 move, we believe it would be better to allow extra time.
So our current plan is:
1. expedite Solaris 2.5 for general release in early June
2. continue IRIX 6.x development for general release during the
fall semester
Mike Barker
