I am posting this as a result of a discussion on the development list (http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/development/2008-May/029947.html and thereafter), because I noticed that this module seems to be creating new official releases very frequently, sometimes after every CVS commit.

This is not meant to be accusatory or to single this module out (I am posting similar messages at other modules too)! Rather, it's part of an informal "survey" to gather some information to help figure out why module maintainers are doing this and whether there are any structural issues related to Drupal's release management system involved in the decision to do so.

So my basic question is this: Are you aware that the recommended practice is to only release new official versions (as opposed to auto-generated development snapshots) somewhat infrequently, usually after a number of bugfixes in the issue queue have been accumulated (with the exception being security issues and extremely critical bug fixes)? And is there a particular reason that you seem to have followed a different policy for this module?

Thanks very much for your time!

Comments

David_Rothstein’s picture

David_Rothstein commented
Version: 5.x-1.9 » 5.x-1.32

Oops, meant to mark this for the most recent version...

mercmobily’s picture

mercmobily commented
Status: Active » Fixed

Hi,

The module us under _very_ active development.
At one point I've released like 4 versions in 1 day because there was a huge bug there and ended up screwing things up a few times. Other than that, I tried to only make an official release when an important bug (or set of bugs) were solved.

But, what can I say, I will definitely be more careful! :-D

Do the infrastructure guys hate the way I released?

Merc.

David_Rothstein’s picture

David_Rothstein commented

No worries, and nope, no one hates you ;) The infrastructure folks would prefer a less frequent release schedule for the reasons mentioned in that email... but they definitely aren't targeting you or anything (they may or may not even know your module exists). A lot of other modules are doing it too.

I just figured it might help the discussion along by picking a few at random that I could find (yours and 4 others) that seemed to have a bunch of releases and see what was going on, but it was definitely a random choice. There was a lot of speculation on the mailing list about why module maintainers were doing this, so I figured I would try to gather some hard facts. Thanks!

Actually, what you wrote does bring up a follow-up question, if you have a minute: I noticed from the CVS logs that you started off with a "dev" version and then released the official version later. So I was just wondering, what prompted you to release the first official version at the time you did? Did you know then that the module would continue to be actively developed with lots of big things left to do, or did you think it was basically ready to go at the time, but then the bugs and issues poured in later? (The reason I ask is that a lot of speculation on the mailing list surrounded the idea of whether "dev" versions are too scary for people -- with the big red X, etc -- and therefore module maintainers might be deliberately avoiding them.)

Thanks again for your response! Looks like a pretty neat module, by the way.

mercmobily’s picture

mercmobily commented

Hi,

Thanks for the kind words about my module!
To answer your question: I started as "dev" version and left it that way until I thought that the module was ready for the "normal" users; that is, it was reasonably bug free, and I was ready for people to start using it in production sites.

I was obviously very wrong. The module has been basically rewritten since then. The main rewrite was the split of the module into separate sub-modules.It went from being one unmanageable 6000 line module, to a small neat module with lots of submodules.

I had a huge dilemma at that very point: should this be a major release of the module, or just a minor one? It was important because a lot of "interface" things changed. In the end, I opted for releasing it as "just a normal version"... but it was a 50/50 thing. (Actually, I did start creating a 2.0 branch, but messed things up with crappy CVS and basically gave up. Mercurial or git would be _most_ welcome...)

The module is now a lot more stable. You can tell but the fewer, smaller commits. We are porting it to D6 as we speak.

Will I change my ways? Well, I don't know. If I add an important feature, I will tend to release a new version. For example, I rewrote the autovoting system, and definitely made a new release after that. I do not feel comfortable with people using the dev version, if I've added AND tested a new feature and know that it works -- and it's extremely useful to every user.

Bye!

Merc.

Anonymous’s picture

Anonymous (not verified) commented
Status: Fixed » Closed (fixed)

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for two weeks with no activity.