[OpenLayers-Dev] v3 branch on GitHub for deprecation & API changes

[Andreas Hocevar]

On Nov 4, 2011, at 15:04 , Eric Lemoine wrote:

> On Friday, November 4, 2011, Andreas Hocevar <ahocevar at opengeo.org> wrote:
> > Removing deprecated code is a low hanging fruit and could already be done now in a development branch. But instead of merely removing code, I'd be in favor of an approach that moves deprecated functions/methods to separate files, so that they can still be included in a build.
> 
> Do you see this work happening in the master branch, or in a v3 branch?

This could indeed (and should in my opinion) happen on the master branch.

> Here's my opinion:
> 
> We're talking about new APIs, but are we talking about major renovations, or a few tweaks here and there? It's not clear to me what people have in mind, what people will be able to do, etc. Creating a v3 branch and having people send pull requests would make things more concrete. We will see where this leads us to, and if we need compatibility layers, etc.

If done right, this can work. But our previous attempt to do that (ol3 on github) terribly failed, mostly because core developers were not able to contribute enough time for reviewing and mentoring. For those who contributed this is frustrating, and it should not happen again. The easiest way to focus resources is a code sprint, but this requires planning and a compelling roadmap in order to get enough funding.

Having said that, people can send pull requests regardless of the presence or absence of a v3 branch. For the contributors, it is important that core developers pay attention to these pull requests. If a v3 branch increases the level of core developer attention, I'm all for it. Correct me if you think this is wrong, but as a PSC member, I see my duty now in joining forces with the whole PSC and other interested parties to plan a sprint with focus on a new API and find sponsors for it.

My 2¢

Andreas.

-- 
Andreas Hocevar
OpenGeo - http://opengeo.org/
Expert service straight from the developers.