[GRASS-dev] Re: please review: draft announcement for future 6.3.0 release

[Hamish]

> Hamish ha scritto:
> > we should still emphasize 6.2.x as the best version for all
> > platforms except native Windows and devels.

Paolo Cavallini wrote:
> Could you please let us know in more detail why this is so?

Sure.

 [warning to reader: rambling opinion follows]

A new user can't be expected to hit a moving target.
They will want to run through tutorials and other documentation which
depend on static versions to work. (hence 6.x line compatibility rules)

More beta testers would be great, but they must have the confidence to
know that the mistake is a bug in the software and not their own, and
how to debug or work around the problem. Otherwise it is very
frustrating if they put a lot of time into a problem only to learn
it is a bug.

And I don't want to push half finished possibly buggy code on new users.
They will run into a problem, and even if the problem may be fixed in a
day then they're turned off and think the whole thing is a buggy mess.

Especially right now when 6.2.1 is not so far from 6.3-cvs in features.
(complication- in future I will tell a Debian/Etch user to install 6.2.1
from DebianGIS backports, not 6.0.2 from default Etch/stable.)

e.g. In the past I've told colleagues so-and-so is a simple task in
GRASS and been slightly embarrassed when the CVS version I'm using was
broken that day for that feature with them looking on. It's usually a
simple fix, but it makes a bad impression. I've also noticed that when
I've installed a CVS version for someone they will keep that version
installed for literally years. Bug support for that is a nightmare-
they can't upgrade because their version of OSX is pre-10.4, etc.
and it is just one day's CVS from a year ago-- who can remember what
state the code was in that day? [this happened yesterday actually;
ended up just doing the job on my computer. :-/ ]


This parallels the Debian stable/unstable debate. They are intended for
two entirely different audiences. I have no doubt that new users should
use a well tested stable release, and no doubt that power-users will
prefer the new the CVS development version. Power users don't need our
advice, so our generic advice should be targeted to the new user, and 
that advice be to start with the stable branch.


regards,
Hamish