Release discussion 0.15

[saso]

well indeed i am a bit new here, but looking at 0.13 and 0.14 files, "release process" at the sf site, i had the impression unstable releases are common and part of the fc development

[jriegel]

We use to have regularly a unstable windows release. I think I will start to do it again with the new LibPack and x64.

On Linux we have anyway the PPA..

[ediloren]

We already had long discussions on the meaning of 'stable' and 'unstable', and I would not relegate the meaning of 'unstable' to 'zipped' versus 'with installer'.

My opinion is that I would stick with the initial decision to have more 'official' releases, i.e. 2 per year, or 4 per year (probably 2 is enough, unless the development speeds up so much to make it worth having 4). But this is not 'unstable' in itself. 'Unstable' Win release, i.e. snapshots like PPA, is perfectly ok for people on Win w/o all the bundle/burden for self-compiling FreeCAD (I appreciated it in the past as well).

.. but as I am doing almost nothing for releasing the new version I would say this is up to the people actually working for releasing FreeCAD, so the final decision I would say is up to Juergen and the other developers / packagers

Enrico

[jmaustpc]

Hi all
Time for my 10 Aussie cents worth, (or 0.06962Euro)

As we have said in the past

We already had long discussions on the meaning of 'stable' and 'unstable'

In a generic commonly spoken English sense "unstable" is a VERY bad word to use, I know what it means to a developer but most, or at least a lot of, Windows users are non-technical types to whom "unstable" means it crashes a lot and they quite understandably get completely the wrong idea.

I am a great believer in common, simple, small, regular, updates becoming the official releases.

But I also see "development snap shots" as a great service for
1) those that have found a bug and want to get the bug fix and
2) those keen to see the latest features.

When you think about it, these development snap shots are potentially useful for FreeCAD development, as via these snap shots we will have more people on more platforms testing newer code and hopefully finding more bugs before the next release. Currently if a bug exists in master that only effects Windows, it is more likely that it will not be found until after release due to less testing of up to date code.

Also I think offering zipped version is also a great service ...in that it allows a Windows user to try the development snap shot without forcing them to un-install or upgrade their main installed FreeCAD version....


Jim

[abdullah]

We already had long discussions on the meaning of 'stable' and 'unstable'

My two cents: You guys have been so much time inside this project that I fear you do not remember what "unstable" means out there... FreeCAD is almost an exception in that the "unstable" (Ubuntu PPA) is much more stable that what is considered stable out there... For example, Debian sid (which is great) is much more "unstable" than FreeCAD Ubuntu PPA... That should suffice, but... what happens in those really strange situations where something goes "terribly wrong"?... simple, there is not daily PPA for a few days and then back to normal. FreeCAD git HEAD is just great.

Once that is said: I think that Ubuntu's FreeCAD daily PPA (brought to you by normandc) is good for FreeCAD. We have quite a lot of people reporting bugs on the daily PPA. People seeing a project grow (as opposed to stall) tend to support the project more. I think it would be good to have a windows "daily PPA". However, I do not know if someone would be ready to do the equivalent to Normand's work for windows, so that we can have something like daily windows binaries (or weekly, or even monthly).

Personally my advice is: guys, if you need windows, make your machine dual boot, get linux and use the PPA (though I know this is not possible for some... work PC's, IT not wanting to know about dual boots,...).

too long for two cents...

[NormandC]

I think it would be good to have a windows "daily PPA". However, I do not know if someone would be ready to do the equivalent to Normand's work for windows, so that we can have something like daily windows binaries (or weekly, or even monthly).

The fact is, there is almost no work needed for the Daily Builds PPA packages. Apart from initial set up (done by wmayer) and occasional configuration for new Ubuntu releases, the packages are built automatically by Launchpad.

While as for Windows, there is as far as I know no existing automated system that could do this.

[NormandC]

Forgot to add:

+1 on ditching the "unstable" label. Development snapshot looks good to me.

[ediloren]

+1 also on my side - let's drop 'unstable'

[danielfalck]

+1 here too - if at all possible to drop 'unstable'.

[saso]

Generally I don't care to much about names and believe that generally what ever the name is, if people care enough about a thing they will understand what it is about. But since lately there was a topic about the Wikipedia entry, one possible suggestion could be to go by its naming and change "unstable" to "preview".

Personally however I don't really feel daily/nightly builds should be this, since it is generally expected that such builds can sometimes not work at all or even corrupt your data/files. A preview build should have some more guaranty that it works as it should and a final release even more. I wish for FreeCAD to become more then just a hobby tool and for that I don't see the daily builds as the preferred way to go with for most users

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"