Apple's Patch Release Management Schedule and Open Source

Apple just released a big patch bundle for OSX, 88 patches in all, 105 MB You can read about the full details in an article on the Register   I wonder if the "big bang" patch release system set up by Apple is related to the release cycles of open source projects like Apache, OpenSSH, and ClamAV? 

 I like the idea of releasing fewer patches with more frequency, but I don't know if Apple has that luxury. Ubuntu has a six month release cycle, and I see some packages missing a release on occasion if their project teams are not on the same schedule. I wonder if it would be possible to get major open source vendors on a common release schedule? Maybe they try, I am going to ask someone from an Ubuntu team and see what they say. If you know the answer, drop me a comment, I would love to know.

One thing I know for sure is that Ubuntu is big, REALLY big, 17015 packages and counting at the moment. Even if only ten percent of those packages are being actively worked, that represents an enormous logistical challenge to get all the project team to hit specific targets. Ubuntu contributors are using collaboration software, especially emergent systems like wikis and blogs, which are great for software projects. I'd love to see someone attempt to build metrics around the use of these collaborative tools in the development of Ubuntu, because it is such a big open source project and it provides both transparency to make it easy to study and enough size to provide both a really good sample of data and scaling evidence from projects large and small.