[GRASS5] GRASS stable/exp branches

[Markus Neteler]

Hi all,

it seems the time is come to start branching now. By that
we can separate the stable and the experimental versions
and avoid that experimental changes break everything for
the stable release. However, some of us including me have to
learn the branching method.

A good starting point is here (thanks, Bernhard):
http://www.cvshome.org/docs/manual/cvs_5.html

I like this model:

  +-----+    +-----+    +-----+    +-----+    +-----+
  ! 1.0 !----! 1.2 !----! 1.3 !----! 1.4 !----! 1.5 !   <- The main exp trunk
  +-----+    +-----+    +-----+    +-----+    +-----+
                  !            \                 \
                  !              \                \
                  !               _\| bugfix       _\| bugfix   
                  !   +---------+    +---------+     +---------+
 Stable branch -> +---! 1.2.2.1 !----! 1.2.2.2 !-----! 1.2.2.3 !
                      +---------+    +---------+     +---------+

We work on expimental, in case a bug is found in stable, we apply it to
exp and merge into stable branch.

As I am no software engineer, does this make sense?

Note: The 5.1 will need a complete revising. Until it is set up completely
(end of PHASE 1), we should apply above model to 5.0.x.

There might be the idea to start a new stable from every time when we
want to release a new stable version (so every stable branch is dead
after publishing the individual stable version). This would make life 
easier in terms of less bugfix merging required, BUT: Every new stable
branch needs that every module is tagged "stable" (or not). Means to
visit 400 modules all few month, even if you know they are stable.
Therefore I feel to have a continuous stable branch is better.

Comments are appreciated.

 Markus

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