[kde-linux] KDE 3 Beta

[Anne Wilson]

On Saturday 27 October 2007 12:22:01 James Richard Tyrer wrote:
> Long blog from a somewhat old (59) engineer.
>
Short reply from an even older user :-)
> The problem which I have observed in the KDE development methodology is
> that the product is NEVER finished -- it doesn't matter if it is 4.0.0,
> 4.1.0 or 4.2.0, it still won't be any closer to 100%.
>
I've never yet done anything that I thought was perfect.  There is always some 
improvement to be made.

> > That's not how open source works, that's not how KDE works.  This is
> > not Vista or Leopard where a box ships and sits on the shelf largely
> > unchanged for 5 years bar the odd SP or security patch.
>
> I take issue with that.  KDE had grown up as it were and many people use
> it for production environments.  If we are going to release something
> which isn't finished, we should indicate this (like KDE4-preview).
>
I've been using computers since 1981, and PCs since 1987.  One thing I learned 
early is that you never put a x.0 release onto a production machine.

> It isn't a matter of waiting around for everything to be done.  What we
> need to do is only release the stuff which is done in our stable
> releases.  Early KDE-3 releases contained stuff which clearly wasn't
> ready for prime time and this reflects negatively on the reputation of
> the KDE project.  Yes, the stable 4.0.0 release is going to have bugs,
> but stuff that simply doesn't work is more than just a bug and should be
> treated differently.
>
Is it possible to test everything completely without user experience?

> Other projects have adopted a two track approach where there is an
> unstable branch (or really it is Trunk) and there is a stable release
> branch.  Stuff is developed in Trunk and then migrated to the Stable
> branch ONLY when it meets QA standards.  Or, this can be reversed where
> Trunk is the stable release and new stuff is developed outside of Trunk
> and then added ONLY when it meets QA standards (IIUC the Linux Kernel is
> done this way).
>
> There are other methodologies which could probably accomplish the same
> ends.
>
> We can continue to and new stuff, but there needs to be some method to
> ensure that we deliver a commercially viable (stable) product.  Other
> projects have figured out how to do this, we need to do the same.

KDE 3 will not disappear overnight, I'm sure, so the stable environment will 
be there for everyone who needs it.  Personally I shall be choosing carefully 
where I install KDE 4.

Anne
-- 
Registered Linux User No.293302 (http://counter.li.org/)
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