I would like to ask which version of PBS Pro is intended to be used in production? There are only two branches: the master and the release_branch (version 14), which is quite old. We are in 2018 now… At the present time, the master branch is definitely not suitable for production. As far as I know, the PR-437 introduced several bugs, which makes the master unusable in production, but my point is not to point to one commit. This is just an example. My point is to ask in general (or maybe to open a discussion) how should I treat with the repository if I want to use PBS Pro in production and I need to avoid critical bugs. I think there should by some releases…
We use PBS Pro in production with our own adjustments and I am looking for the best way how to follow the original repository, how to contribute to this repository and how to use PBS Pro in production.
Happy New Year! This is an important topic, so thanks for starting up a discussion on it.
A bit of background: prior to releasing PBS Pro as Open Source, there were several different commercial branches supporting different capabilities. In June 2016, PBS Pro v14 was the first Open Source release. It focused on mainstream Linux support, but lacked full support for other core capabilities and platforms (e.g., Windows, Cray systems). A major goal of the PBS Pro Open Source Project is to have a single PBS Pro core that can serve as the basis for both the Open Source Project and commercially-licensed software. To that end, the Altair team has been working hard to merge all the core capabilities that were part of (commercial-only) PBS Pro, but were missing from v14. The plan was to finish that merge work and release it in the next major version… in 2017. Unfortunately, it is taking longer than anticipated.
The good news: the target for the next major release is March 2018, and we plan to have at least one major release per year in the future. (We’re planning on calling it v18.1, the “18” to match the year “2018”.) The v18.1 release will have a bunch of new features (see the Roadmap at https://pbspro.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PBSPro/pages/6193157/PBS+Pro+Roadmap) as well as bunches of bug fixes along the way (see the git logs). The last features should be checking in sometime in Feb, then we’ll focus a few weeks on testing and bug fixing before declaring v18.1 ready.
A couple things you (as well as everyone in the community) could help with:
Testing out v18.1 beta (which should be ready in early Feb), filing bugs, and, ideally, fixing bugs too. We will add a v18.1 beta tag when it’s ready. If there’s something we could do to make it easier for you (or anyone) to test and provide feedback, please add ideas here.
Providing suggestions regarding additional releases (beyond yearly major releases). Does the community want releases more often, and if so, what should be in them?
Sorry for the longish note. I will just add that all the above is open to discussion, so please don’t hesitate to provide feedback and suggestions. (That goes for anyone in the community too.)
At our HPC center, we plan on deploying PBS Pro by March 1st so we’ll be looking forward to providing feedback on the v18.1 beta if everything goes as plan on your end. And I’m not sure what’s been done in the past, but a v18.1 beta specific feedback portal could prove helpful.
As for the number of releases per year, we may have the bandwidth to keep up with two releases per year but certainly no more than that at our shop.
Thank you for your reply and for the background. I understand now. I will definitely test out the beta version.
We are able to deploy more than one release per year at our HPC center, and I would appreciate also one or two minor version releases (18.X) per year - depends on the number of new features… If it would not harm the stability of the releases. The reason is that we use modified PBS Pro and it is a little easier to port our features continuously.
The plan is to check in a few remaining features in the coming weeks, then release an 18.1 beta. Then, we will focus on “just bug fixing” for at least a few weeks. So, it really depends on what bugs we find. In my experience, these bug fixes rarely affect upgrades from beta to GA, so an upgrade should be easy. However, there’s no guarantee, because, well… bugs…
I posted a separate note about 18.1 Beta, and just posted a general Announcement, but thought I would also point this thread at it too (to be all inclusive).