Re: [Texmacs-dev] Stable release schedule?

[Joris van der Hoeven]

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003, David Allouche wrote:
> I would like to know the planned schedule for the next stable release,
> and whether it could be made more flexible to get more fixes.

Well, fixes and extra documentation are always welcome for
the next stable release. I rather feature-freezed TeXmacs until then.
This means that I do not want to add essentially new features (except
when disabled, like for graphics) and that I do not want to make
changes which risk to compromise the stability. It also means that
I personally focus on using TeXmacs for a while in order to discover
potential bugs.

> Currently, I am reviewing the existing user documentation and making
> some fixes in places where the documentation was obviously outdated or
> ill considered. Many FAQ could be traced down to misplaced or absent
> information.

That is good. Notice that Andreas Seidl is working on a better FAQ too.

> In that process I have been making a few minor improvements for my own
> convenience and I have been systematically fixing some bugs which have
> been reported for years and never fixed and other problems which caused
> the software not to match the documentation.

That is good too, but please don't forget to make progress
in the documentation of the TeXmacs primitives in parallel :^)

> Currently my branch (based on 1.0.2.9) has some not yet published fixes:
>
> patch-11
>     edit: make the hybrid return key extensible
> patch-17
>     C-" text shortcut for ASCII double straight quote
> patch-18
>     change C-" to the more standard S-F5-"
> patch-19
>     fix in-hungarian? mode predicate
> patch-20
>     footer message for complete hybrid commands
> patch-23
>     keyboard wildcard backtracking
> patch-24
>     multi-esc for hyper
> patch-25
>     variant simplification with unused modifiers
> patch-26
>     set multiple cell formats of a selection at once
>
> The fixes to the keyboard wildcarding and variants system are especially
> important, but they are also non-trivial and could use an extra public
> release for testing.

Unstable fixes will be postponed until just after the next stable release.
With the new release policy, they can easily be incorporated into
subsequent releases. So if you or I are not very sure about the fix,
then they will be postponed. Nevertheless, there will still be a few
unstable releases, so the earlier you send me your patches, the earlier
that they will be incorporated.

> I am planning some other fixes (e.g. menu item naming problems I have
> noticed recently).

Yes, this kind of fixes would typically be OK for inclusion.

> Clearly, all of those fixes should get into the next
> stable release. I think it would be a good thing to wait until I have
> finished the current review before releasing 1.0.3.

The 1.0.3 version is planned for januari. I do not plan to delay
this moment. In any case, not all minor or even major bugs will
be fixed by then anyway. But the more we fix, the better...

> Since Savannah is currently down, I am holding those patches back, but I
> can post them on the mailing list.

Yes, that is fine. You may also put them on your website and
just send us a message; that makes it easier for me to download them.