[GRASS5] GRASS development model Was: A private conversation

[Roger S. Miller]

List,

I'm speaking (briefly, I hope) primarily from a user's point of view.  I
have to agree with Rich on several points.  At the same time I recognize
the difficulty of focusing a volunteer effort to meet a goal.  I think
Markus is doing a great job and the work of other developers is wholly
appreciated.  The Grass effort needs only more and more contributers.

That said, I think we need Grass5.0-stable.  A lot of the changes that
are being committed to Grass5.0 right now are needed improvements, but
they *don't* go toward stabilizing Grass 5 or to fixing the installation
process.  They delay the impending release of Grass 5.0-stable.

If source needs to be changed to stabilize the existing capabilites of
Grass 5.0 then it needs to be done now so the stable version can be
released.  If source is being changed to improve on the existing
capabilites, it needs to be done for 5.1 and left out of 5.0.  

In the mean time, you have a mature beta on the internet that still
doesn't install correctly.  Potential users are going to download the
beta, then abandon Grass because they can't even get it to install and
initialize correctly.  Once they've tried it and it's failed they may
never come back.


Roger Miller
Lee Wilson and Associates

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