Xfce has just announced on its blog the new release schedule for its next version and a change in its numbering, as the title of this article indicates.
The change is due, from what I could understand, that some distributions could have conflicts with numbering and updates. In the end I do not understand why so much trouble, but let's see a practical example:
Let's say the package xfce4-panel-4.10 is released , and Debian later releases a version with fixes for that package, for example: xfce4-panel-4.10-1 . The post explains that, generally, the number following the decimal point indicates the revision, so 0 would indicate an update number, resulting in 4.1 , which is lower than 4.8.
Another example is the kernel version number : 2.6.X. The X is replaced with each new update. Therefore, Xfce cannot go to version 4.10 , as that would be like releasing Xfce 4.1.0 . The solution? Well, we'll have Xfce 4010 (four thousand ten) . What do you think?
The final release has been delayed until after FOSDEM concludes , as new features may be added once the event discussions are finished. The release schedule is as follows:
| Dates | Phase / Deadline | Everyone's Tasks | Release Team Tasks | Maintenance Tasks |
| 2011-Feb-13 - 2012-Feb-12 | development phase | Support Xfce | Supervise development, remind people of deadlines | Hacking |
| 2012-Feb-12 - 2012-April-01 | release phase | wait patiently | Perform releases, remind people of deadlines | Perform releases of own components if desired |
| Xfce 4010pre1 (Feature Freeze) | Prepare release announcements, release Xfce 4010pre1 | Make sure the latest development release is in good shape and uploaded | ||
2012-March-11 |
Xfce 4010pre2 (String Freeze) | Prepare release announcements, release Xfce 4010pre2 | Make sure that strings in the latest development release or in master are good | |
2012-March-25 |
Xfce 4010pre3 (Code Freeze) | Prepare release announcements, release Xfce 4010pre3, create ELS branches | Make sure the latest development release is in good shape, or that code is solid / finished in master | |
2012-April-01 |
Xfce 4010 (Final Release) | Celebrate | Prepare release announcements, release Xfce 4010, branch for stable release, merge ELS branches into master | Make sure to upload a new release of own components before this deadline |
In summary, we will have Xfce 4010 by April 1st