Release discussion 0.15

Have some feature requests, feedback, cool stuff to share, or want to know where FreeCAD is going? This is the place.
Forum rules
Be nice to others! Read the FreeCAD code of conduct!
Post Reply
jreinhardt
Posts: 329
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2013 6:08 pm

Release discussion 0.15

Post by jreinhardt »

As it turned out to be very useful to have a dedicated thread for release discussions in the 0.14 cycle, and there are some discussions already breaking out in a unrelated thread , I just went ahead and created this thread.

I think it is not a bad time to review and discuss about what might go into 0.15 and what not, even if a release will not happen right now. Last time it took roughly three months from the start of the discussion to the actual release (but this was a pretty big one).

I went over the 0.14 thread and tried to distill the things that were postponed or discussed. I don't closely follow all the developments (there are so many), so some of that might already be integrated.
  • Assembly
  • new Part Design (body feature, datum planes)
  • new Drawing WB
  • C++ Spreadsheet
  • Arch halfspaces
  • new OCC/OCE Versions
Then there are a number of issues on mantis:
http://freecadweb.org/tracker/roadmap_page.php

I wanted to integrate BOLTS into FreeCAD. It should not be too much effort, but I haven't really started yet, so depending on the timescale for 0.15, it might not be ready.

Then there is the freshly announced Oculus Support by Jürgen. I don't know how well one can expect to get it tested, given the limited availability of the Oculus Rift. Probably Jürgen has to decide whether it should go into 0.15 or not. But it would definitely be a very spectacular feature that would create a lot of buzz.
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7715
BOLTS, standard parts library for FreeCAD Thread, Help with Translation
User avatar
yorik
Founder
Posts: 13640
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:16 pm
Location: Brussels
Contact:

Re: Release discussion 0.15

Post by yorik »

I think we can forget about assembly, new Drawing WB, spreadsheet for now, if we are going to make a new release more or less soon.

There are a couple of new things in Arch (panels, furniture), a new more powerful IFC importer, a new DXF exporter for the Drawing WB, Occulus Rift support, improvements and new objects (ellipse) in the Sketcher, hmm that's already not bad actually...
User avatar
bejant
Veteran
Posts: 6075
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2013 3:06 pm

Re: Release discussion 0.15

Post by bejant »

yorik wrote:a couple of new things
Enhanced measurement tools;
More complete incorporation of imperial units;
Sketcher: regular polygons, slot, accelerator / elements widget;
Part Design WB: Involute gear creator, shaft wizard

This is just from memory so I probably missed some things.
jreinhardt
Posts: 329
Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2013 6:08 pm

Re: Release discussion 0.15

Post by jreinhardt »

ickbys quarter based viewer?
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7486
BOLTS, standard parts library for FreeCAD Thread, Help with Translation
User avatar
NormandC
Veteran
Posts: 18587
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:52 pm
Location: Québec, Canada

Re: Release discussion 0.15

Post by NormandC »

bejant wrote:Enhanced measurement tools;
If you're talking about the measurement tools in the Part workbench, those are already in 0.14.3700.
bejant wrote:Sketcher: regular polygons, slot, accelerator / elements widget;
ditto for slot
bejant wrote:Part Design WB: Involute gear creator, shaft wizard
Already in v0.14.3700

Shaft generator in not in the Windows version but it's probably due to a packaging error.
jmaustpc
Veteran
Posts: 11207
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 6:28 am
Location: Australia

Re: Release discussion 0.15

Post by jmaustpc »

normandc wrote: bejant wrote:Enhanced measurement tools;


If you're talking about the measurement tools in the Part workbench, those are already in 0.14.3700.
hi Norm
I believe he is talking about View menu ....Measure distance... which did get a minor update just recently in master after 0.14...it shows the red measure icon now next to the mouse pointer when in measure mode...I think that icon was all the improvement was...unless I am missing something.

Sketcher Profiles were in 0.14 but the polygons were not.

Jim
User avatar
jriegel
Founder
Posts: 3369
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:29 pm
Location: Ulm, Germany
Contact:

Re: Release discussion 0.15

Post by jriegel »

I would also vote for a 0.15 soon.

Surly before Assembly with the new PartDesign hit the wall!
Stop whining - start coding!
User avatar
saso
Veteran
Posts: 1920
Joined: Fri May 16, 2014 1:14 pm
Contact:

Re: Release discussion 0.15

Post by saso »

While it was not long ago that it was me who was suggesting for a new release, I don't see the need for rushing and pushing out a new final/stable release. Personally I vote for an 0.15 unstable.

Some reasons, I very much like the fast pace of development that is going on at the moment, even if some commits represent smaller improvements or cosmetic changes, it is just nice to see the constant improvements. And because of this it seems importation to me that developers can continue to focus on what they like to do most. An unstable release should not disturb this process to much. On the other side however I also believe that it would be good for an final/stable release to have a period of time where everyone can come together and focus a bit more on generally less interesting things like getting lower the number of reported bugs, extended testing, translations, documentation, release announcements,...

An example, if it would be agreed for an release every three months, then IMO in a year three of them could be unstable and have the focus in the time between them on bigger code changes and new features. Focus in the last three months before an final/stable release should however probably be on other stuff, mentioned above. FreeCAD is an precision cad tool and as such it would IMO be good to at least try to provide some level of quality in final/stable releases. This release process could work similar also if it would be agreed to do two final releases per year.

Probably my main argument or suggestion about the release process is to have a known and fixed release dates, what type of release (stable or unstable) happens on this dates is however open to discussion or be decided by the main developers/builders. It could even be dynamic, so that at the beginning of every three month period it would be decided what should be the focus for the next three months, new features and an unstable release at the end or final release preparations.

Just few thoughts :)
User avatar
yorik
Founder
Posts: 13640
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:16 pm
Location: Brussels
Contact:

Re: Release discussion 0.15

Post by yorik »

If we put all that is said here into a new wiki page, we almost have our release notes page ready :) I don't really know if we should make different stable/unstable releases... This will be more work for us IMHO
User avatar
shoogen
Veteran
Posts: 2823
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 5:24 pm

Re: Release discussion 0.15

Post by shoogen »

yorik wrote:I don't really know if we should make different stable/unstable releases... This will be more work for us IMHO
An unstable release is a FreeCAD windows binary as zip file without the installer.
Post Reply