[Freeciv-Dev] Re: minor numbers to reflect development vs stable releases?

[Vasco Alexandre Da Silva Costa <vasc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 10 Feb 2001, Paul S Jenner wrote:

> Hi.
> 
> Thanks to all who have developed Freeciv over the years.  This has long been
> a great game and is now pretty much a classic.  Keep it up.

Praise is always nice :-)

> Previously I have been playing freeciv-1.10.X.  I noticed freeciv-1.11.X was
> available but since the minor version number (11) was odd (as opposed to
> even - not strange :-), I assumed in the usual convention it was a
> development or beta release.  Its only when I checked later that I found
> it was stable.
> 
> I realise you use CVS for development but would you consider numbering
> stable releases with even minor version numbers (1.10, 1.12, 1.14 etc.)
> in the manner of the Linux kernel, GTK+, GNOME, Samba etc. to avoid
> people like me not getting the latest stable version through a bad
> assumption?  I can't see this hurting version numbering but I can see it
> gaining more users of the latest version.

You aren't the first to make that mistake.

The thing is: all freeciv releases are stable releases.

When we want to make a test version we call it beta 2 for e.g.
The CVS version is freeciv-1.11.5-devel.  When it's released it's called
freeciv-1.11.5 for e.g.

If you want the latest 'unstable' version grab a CVS snapshot.  Even if
it's in CVS we usually only commit patches when they're ready and don't
break compilation or leave the code in a sorry state as usual in certain
development teams *cough* GNOME *cough*

We usually change the minor version whenever there's a network protocol
change.

The freeciv development model isn't a Bazar thing.  It's a Cathedral
thing.  But then again so is the Linux kernel development.  Like in the
Linux kernel we have a King who's the Head Maintainer. :-)

This is no democracy.  It's more of a Monarchy like one of our maintainers
once put it.

The homepage is specific enough:
"Stable Version" "Current stable version: 1.11.4"
"CVS development snapshots"

You just assumed too much.

---
Vasco Alexandre da Silva Costa @ Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa