[vbox-dev] 4.0 release cycle

[Geoff Nordli]

>From: Achim Hasenmüller 
>Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 1:06 AM
>
>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.
>

Hi Achim.

I agree, the changes to the API are welcome and from what I see, help solve
some of the challenges we have encountered during our development.  

Overall, it should lead to a much more stable system.

Thanks!!

Geoff