GCC 4.1 Projects

[Mark Mitchell <mark at codesourcery dot com>]

I have posted the GCC 4.1 project submissions I received here:

  http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/GCC%204.1%20Projects

I have divided the projects into several categories:

[1.1] Stage 1.1: Now through March 15th.

[1.2] Stage 1.2: March 15 through April 1st.

[1.3] Stage 1.3: April 1st through April 25th.

[2] Stage 2 projects.

[4.2] Projects that will be delayed until 4.2.  These are projects that 
will not be ready in Stage 1, but are too big to include later in the 
release cycle.  We can consider squeezing these into 4.1 if things are 
going well, and they're well-tested when they're ready.  Being a 4.2 
project is not a judgement about the merits of the project, just the timing.

These category numbers are in parentheses after the project name on the 
Wiki page.

Here are some caveats:

(1) I'm not approving any of these patches in this message; you still 
need to do all the normal approval steps.  Patches submitted in during 
Stage 1 can go in later, if they're not too disruptive.  But, the fact 
that your project is on the projects list doesn't mean we'll hold up 4.1 
until your project is committed.

(2) Please do not commit your project before the dates put forward 
above, but by all means please do submit your patches for review, and 
get them approved, so that they can go in as soon as we hit the 
appropriate window.

(3) Please try to avoid stepping on each other's toes.  I'm not going to 
try to micromanage things within the groups I've set out above, but 
please announce your intention to commit, and respect requests to hold 
off commits while someone merges a branch, etc.  And, please let some 
time (24 hours?) pass after each major project goes in before committing 
the next, so that we can make sure that the world isn't broken.

(4) There's no reason that other changes can't go in during Stage 1; by 
all means, fix bugs, add features, etc.  But please avoid being 
disruptive, and respect the people who took the time to submit proposals 
up front.  Please do not check in major changes without notifying me.

(5) I'm sure that we'll need to juggle things a bit, as we go.  To help 
me keep track, please add the words "checked in" in parentheses next to 
your project on the Wiki page above when your check-in is complete.

I've used a lot of factors in making these determinations, including:

* Delivery date, level of testing, and my estimation of how realistic 
the delivery date is.

For example, Joseph's new C parser is very strong in this category; it's 
ready right now, and it's been tested extensively.

* Riskiness.

In general, optimization projects have consistently proved riskiest. 
So, I've pushed back some of the less risky projects to Stage 2; let's 
get the risky optimization stuff in right away, so we can have as longa 
s possible to fix problems.

* Whether the project was submitted for 4.0, but didn't make it.

I've tried to put these projects early; we don't want to stuff to miss 
two release cycles.

For 4.1, I'm going to try (again) to keep to the six-month schedule in 
our development plan.  So, Stage 1 will end April 25th, Stage 2 will end 
June 25th (or a little later, given Ottawa), etc.

--
Mark Mitchell
CodeSourcery, LLC
mark@codesourcery.com
(916) 791-8304