One of the primary goals that Patrick has carved into stone is stability. Thou shalt have a stable product...and it's worked very well for the minimal staff he's had, well, himself I think that's a very healthy approach to take, especially with a project that's such a gargantuan task that's potentially fraught with many pitfalls.
On the subject of stability, and after the experience of 1.1 Beta, I wonder if it might not be a good idea to spin a 1.1 RC build for a week or so *after* the move to the 1.1.4 codebase. ("Unnanounced" except to the testing community.)
It seems to me that we were hit with a lot of new bugs in the 1.1.3 codebase that we'd never seen before because Alpha was based on 1.1.2. (Also recognizing, of course, that we got lots of new users/testers, so some of the bugs could have been 1.1.2 bugs no one had previously hit, and that no release will ever be bug-free despite Patrick's gargantuan efforts ....) By my rough count, there were a dozen or so bugs fixed in the first two weeks after release (Patches 1-4) and about 3 dozen fixed so far in the next almost-two weeks, still waiting for an official patch release (and if Ed and Patrick fix all the remaining UNCO/ASSI bugs in Bugzilla before the end of the week it'll be almost 5 dozen for Patch 5). Among them were some pretty noticeable ones (the wacky menu things intro'd by 1.1.3 changes, a number of crashers, etc.).
Given that 1.1 Final will be the first official whole-number, final, release, I think it would help "image"/adoption/new users/etc. if there weren't so many new-codebase-induced bugs (particularly now that the patch update check is only looking once a week?) in this first "big-time" release. With our growing-but-still-small testing community and a change as big as the codebase, x.x.1 version or not, a little extra testing couldn't hurt.
(The fact we had a crasher in one of the first VT reviews of 1.1 Beta still bothers me--obviously we'll never get rid of all bugs/crashers, and it's not so bad since it was Beta, but I'd like not to see a crasher reported in one of the first reviews of Final That particular one was, I belive, also a 1.1.3-related one, because I recall testing inserting images from the Gallery towards the end of the Alpha 2 cycle. Anyway....)
I know there are some technical/administrative/bandwidth hurdles (a new upload, but presumably the patches in this case would apply on both RC and Final builds so we RC-testers wouldn't redownload), and obviously I don't know the code so the number of "1.1.3-related" bugs theory is just based on my own experience and bugzilla hearsay, but volià my proposal for discussion nonetheless.
Smokey _________________ "[...] whether the duck drinks hot chocolate or coffee is irrelevant." -- ovvldc and sardisson in the NeoWiki
Last edited by sardisson on Thu Jan 20, 2005 1:38 pm; edited 2 times in total
I think issuing a 1.1 Release Candidate is a good idea. Putting that out and letting it sit for a few weeks isn't going to hurt and may save us from the "I can't believe we didn't see that bug" embarrassment.
I think issuing a 1.1 Release Candidate is a good idea. Putting that out and letting it sit for a few weeks isn't going to hurt and may save us from the "I can't believe we didn't see that bug" embarrassment.
Patrick
Patrick et al,
I'd be happy to ask some of my more savvy (and understanding the risks) users to test any pre-final build in-house. They're adapting well to NeoOffice/J and no complaints (except from those who don't have it yet!).
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I think that's a very healthy approach to take, especially with a project that's such a gargantuan task that's potentially fraught with many pitfalls. 
....) By my rough count, there were a dozen or so bugs fixed in the first two weeks after release (Patches 1-4) and about 3 dozen fixed so far in the next almost-two weeks, still waiting for an official patch release (and if Ed and Patrick fix all the remaining UNCO/ASSI bugs in Bugzilla before the end of the week it'll be almost 5 dozen for Patch 5). Among them were some pretty noticeable ones (the wacky menu things intro'd by 1.1.3 changes, a number of crashers, etc.).
