1. Priorities and contents of releases
and the TSB decision process
J. Apostolakis
Version 0.3
Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002

2. Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002
Outline
Work plan
Release planning
Scheduled releases
Minor releases
Major releases
Other releases
Patches
Unscheduled minor releases
Recommendation 3.3: We recommend that the GEANT4 Collaboration clearly define the (different) areas of responsibilities and physics coverage of the two EM groups. The CB should ensure that the relation between the two groups remain that of healthy competition and productive interaction.
Recommendation 4.1: We recommend a release schedule planned around a set of corrections and improvements. Both the schedule and the planned features should be readily accessible to all users and developers.
Recommendation 4.2: We recommend the adoption of more frequent, though not necessarily fully tested, “beta” releases that address important blocking problems. They should be available to all users. These “beta” releases are in addition to having a stable and working version of the program at any time, with a documentation of all known bugs or deficiencies in that particular version.
Recommendation 4.3: We recommend defining and managing the complete product tree, including documentation as well as the code, as part of a release. If the documentation is not ready, the release cannot be deemed to be ready.
Recommendation 4.4: URD’s are an integral part of the documentation and product trees. A coherent set covering all of GEANT4 must be finished and put in place expeditiously.
Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002

3. Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002
2001 Review recommendation 4.1
We recommend a release schedule planned around a set of corrections and improvements. Both the schedule and the planned features should be readily accessible to all users and developers.
Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002

4. General considerations on releases
Regular releases
To include continuing development(s)
Effort for scheduled releases
5 week release cycle includes
Tiered category deadlines (3 groups)
Quality assurance (memory leak)
Investigation and solution of open problems
Need for quick response of many people leads to the necessity of scheduling release cycles.
Experience has shown that at most two scheduled releases can be achieved each year.
Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002

5. ‘Feature’ vs. ‘calendar’ releases
Content based releases
Advantages
Well defined end product
User clarity
Disadvantages
Difficulty in predicting
Potential for large date slippage
Calendar based releases
Disadvantages
Unclear end product
Potential user confusion
Advantages
Scheduling of developers’ availability
Scheduling of users.
Neither has appeared fully satisfactory for our collaboration.
Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002

6. Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002
Solution adopted
Current compromise
Proposed developments for releases agreed in first quarter of year
After review of experiment/client requirements
And proposal of WG development goals
Release plan is reviewed by TSB in fall
to assess realised risks
to revise, if necessary, the proposed content and/or date of a release.
Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002

7. Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002
Release 4.0
(released December 2001)
Work plan 2001 (link)
Set scheduled content of 4.0 in 1st quarter 2001
Conditional addition of cuts/material
On 27th September 2001 a goal for 4.0, if possible, or 4.1
Items of concern Oct/Nov 2001:
Potential disruption due to addition of new functionality (cuts/material)
Delay in a hadronic model
TSB meeting 13th Nov 2001
Decision to proceed with release in Dec 2001
with cuts per material and available models
due to request of experiment(s)
Release (release notes) included cuts/material
Note:
a patch (#1) was required for a fix related to the one of the ‘major’ added kernel features (reference counted touchables).
Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002

8. Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002
Release 5.0
Work plan (TSB 11th April 2002)
Announcement of scheduled features of Geant4 5.0
At the time of the release of Geant4 4.1
In the download web page
and since also on the top Geant4 web page
Fall review: TSB 4th October 2002
Current leading risk: Cuts/region development
New requests
Comparable versions with cuts/material & cuts/region (ATLAS)
Further maintenance of cuts/material (ESA)
Draft plan created
Confirmed features of Geant4 5.0 to be announced soon.
Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002

9. Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002
Refinements in 2001/2
Documentation released with source, data
As of Geant4 4.0, December 2001
‘Beta’ releases for public
Available on signup to mailing list
Subscribers 4th October 2002 number 30.
First one made Aug 2002
Development monthly-tag version (usual case)
Current schedule: every two months
possible each month, will see feedback.
Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002

10. First thoughts on possible future improvements
Better presentation of scheduled features
Earlier and wider
More communication of improvements
Short ‘briefings’ on the status of Geant4 at each release
Concentrating on new features
User discussion session(s) one-two months later
To obtain user feedback
Better estimated development plans
Challenging due to diversity, distribution of collaboration
Geant4 Delta Review, October 2002