[vbox-dev] 4.0 release cycle

[Achim Hasenmüller]

Geoff,

4.0 is a major release with improvements everywhere. I don't think it brings fewer changes than 3.2, in terms of LOCs changed it might be even bigger. We have made significant improvements to the API (all based on feedback from developers) and the hypervisor. It's true that we've put more focus on GUI and usability this time, mainly because we've neglected that area for too long while were were busy with other things. With 3.2, we went into production with very large and very multithreaded systems (thousands of VMs on very big machines) and this revealed several very hard to find race conditions. As part of that, we have introduced a lock validator (amazing technology in itself) so these issues are covered now.

BTW, this extension pack architecture in 4.0 is quite amazing, that was a major effort and it actually means a fundamental change of architecture. No more OSE vs PUEL just VirtualBox (100% OSS) + optional PUEL extension pack and possibly more 3rd party extension packs.

We are hoping for active beta participation so that we can incorporate a lot of feedback and do a good 4.0 release. Of course, 3.2 will remain in active maintenance for quite a while.

Achim

On Dec 7, 2010, at 00:55 , Geoff Nordli wrote:

> I am trying to make a decision is we should start porting our app over to 4.0 from the 3.2 series
>  
> 3.2 debuted June 2009, and we are looking at an 18 month dev cycle to a production grade release.  It seems there was a lot of core functionality delivered during the 3.2 series, which takes a lot longer to bake.
>  
> When I look at the feature set on 4.0, I don’t see the same level core changes.  It seems to be more focused on fixing some of the usability issues (like media management).  I would expect this version to stabilize a lot sooner than the 3.2 series. 
>  
> Do you agree?
>  
> Thanks,
>  
> Geoff      
>  

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