[GRASS-dev] too many branches

[Hamish]

Markus N wrote:
> Can you demonstrate that things are significantly tested? I
> don't see this.

a good example perhaps is the parallelization work that has gone
into i.landsat.rgb and other shell scripts (in parallel with the
python scripts in trunk).

this is something which will be very useful for 6.4 users to have
access to, but was introduced too late in the cycle to go into
6.4.3 with any confidence. ok, it doesn't pass the critical bug
fix test, but a 4-6x speed up in a module is to be taken seriously. better that it sees some air in svn and shares the
method than sit invisible on my local hard drive.

another example I go back to all the time in my mind when thinking
about stable software is a time some years ago when I used the
release branch version of r.sun instead of the dev branch version
in an effort to use only tested code in production runs. It turns
out after a couple of months a new bug was found in the new 
development branch code, and fixed before the next stable release
went out with the otherwise improved code. That choice literally
saved me more than a month's worth of work when on a tight
deadline, and was a lesson that sticks with me quite strongly.


thanks,
Hamish