[communication] 2.1.21 officially "stable" (Re: [Announce] GnuPG 2.1.21 released)

[Bernhard Reiter]

Hello,

Am Montag 15 Mai 2017 19:44:38 schrieb Werner Koch:
> The GnuPG team is pleased to announce the availability of a new release
> of GnuPG: version 2.1.21. 

congratulations to the new release!

I couldn't help to notice that GnuPG 2.1.21 is now the official stable
version, in the communication. :)
To me it happened somewhat silently as in the 2.1.19 announcement
on 2017-03-01 there is still a:

| There are two major flavours of GnuPG:
|
| - GnuPG 2.1 (dubbed "modern") comes with the latest features and is
|  suggested for most users.  This announcement is about this branch.
|
|- GnuPG 2.0 is an older but widely used branch which we will maintain
|  until 2017-12-31.

2.1.18 on 2017-01-23 still additionally had:
|| - GnuPG "classic" (1.4) is a simplified version of GnuPG, required on
||   very old platforms or to decrypt data created with PGP-2 keys.
||
|| You may not install "modern" (2.1) and "stable" (2.0) at the same time.
|| However, it is possible to install "classic" (1.4) along with any of the
|| other versions.

For 2.1.20 (2017-04-0) I overread the change, but with 2.1.21 I read:

> About GnuPG
> =============
>
> The GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) is a complete and free implementation
> of the OpenPGP standard which is commonly abbreviated as PGP.
>
> GnuPG allows to encrypt and sign data and communication, features a
> versatile key management system as well as access modules for public key
> directories.  GnuPG itself is a command line tool with features for easy
> integration with other applications.  A wealth of frontend applications
> and libraries making use of GnuPG are available.  As an Universal Crypto
> Engine GnuPG provides support for S/MIME and Secure Shell in addition to
> OpenPGP.
>
> GnuPG is Free Software (meaning that it respects your freedom).  It can
> be freely used, modified and distributed under the terms of the GNU
> General Public License.

This is a good development! I had long ago put forward to push more towards 
modern versions to reduce maintenance work and be able to pursue more 
progress.

As this declaration of 2.1.x as stable with 2.1.21 was implicit with a (to me) 
silent change on the webpage and the announcement.
Can you elaborate more on the communication strategy?

Is it okay if this implicit declaration of 2.1.21 as stable is widely 
communicated? 

What does that mean for the version numbering scheme of GnuPG
and the release planning? Is 2.1 not an "experimental" minor release line 
anymore? If it is stable, will 2.2.0 happen and when?

Best Regards,
Bernhard

-- 
www.intevation.de/~bernhard   +49 541 33 508 3-3
Intevation GmbH, Osnabrück, DE; Amtsgericht Osnabrück, HRB 18998
Geschäftsführer Frank Koormann, Bernhard Reiter, Dr. Jan-Oliver Wagner
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