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Release Management in Large Free Software Projects

von Martin Michlmayr (Debian Project)

Freitag, 01.06.2007, Forum Messehalle, 11:00-12:00 Uhr

Release management can be quite challenging in free software projects since the work of many distributed developers needs to be finished at the same time so it can be integrated and tested for the next release. It is particularly challenging in free software projects which mainly consist of volunteers because there is little control over the work performed by contributors.

This talk will discuss what kind of problems free software projects face during release preparations and investigate how large volunteer teams can make releases on time and with high levels of quality. In particular, the focus will be on the time based release strategy. Instead of making release when particular functionality or set of features have been implemented, time based releases are made according to a specific time interval. This talk will argue that time based release management acts as an effective coordination mechanism in large volunteer projects and will show examples from a number of projects, including GNOME and X.org.

Über den Autor Martin Michlmayr:

Martin Michlmayr has been involved in various free software projects for over 10 years. He used to be the Volunteer Coordinator for the GNUstep Project and acted as Publicity Director for Linux International. In 2000, Martin joined the Debian Project, and he was later elected Debian Project Leader (DPL) as which he acted for two years. Martin holds Master degrees in Philosophy, Psychology and Software Engineering, and started a PhD at the University of Cambridge in January 2004. His research focuses on quality management in free software projects.