[tex-live] TL13 status

[Philip TAYLOR]

Reinhard Kotucha wrote:

> Phil, it's *not* frozen because it's bug-free.  We actually don't know
> whether it's bug-free because a lot of new packages were added
> recently.  To be frozen here means that no updates will be sent to
> tlnet.  Packages from CTAN will still go to the repository for a while.

I don't actually know what "the repository is", but I do appreciate
that "frozen" does not imply "bug-free"; that was the very reason
for my initial question.  But underlying that question, and
indirectly referred to when I wrote that what gets burned to
DVD is essentially unproven, is that (IMVHO) what is potentially
of far more use would be a freeze prior to release, and that
only bug-fixes would be allowed to trump that freeze.  That would
help to ensure that what went to DVD was as stable and bug-free
as possible.  In other words, I am suggesting that (for the current
year) it should be TeX Live 2013 that is frozen, not TeX Live 2012.
For this to be feasible, it might be necessary to work to a six-
month cycle rather than a 12-month.  At relative day 0 of TL'XX,
TLNET gains the new release, and all are encouraged to try it;
for six months this version is incrementally enhanced as new
versions or new packages appear, and then as day 182 approaches,
a freeze is announced, no new versions or packages are accepted,
but bug-fixes are.  The list is monitored until it seems safe to
assume that there are no remaining bugs, at which point it enters
not just freeze but deep-freeze, and the DVDs are burned.  These
are then sent out with considerable confidence that they are bug-
free.  In a further 183 days, the next cycle commences and so on.

Now this /may/ be similar to what the TL team already do (I do not
know) but it is not my perception of how things are; if I am wrong,
I will be happy to be corrected.

> The sole reason for the freeze is that for a couple of weeks the
> repository will be inconsistent.
> 
> Regarding upgrades: It would be nice if one can upgrade from one
> release to another.  But this is only possible if there are no
> significant changes.  Sometimes it's possible with a few manual
> adaptions but this year it's much too risky.

Isn't it only "too risky" because there is no proper roll-back ?

> You can safely install TL-2012, there is no need to remove older
> versions.  You can switch between versions at any time.  It's much
> safer this way rather than rolling back to an older release.
> What I don't know is what to do with the shortcuts on Windows.

I can probably handle those :-)
** Phil.