[asterisk-users] Opinions on Release Numbering

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Thu, Oct 11, 2007 at 08:47:52AM -0500, Tilghman Lesher wrote:
> One of the problems with this traditional approach is that it's not obvious
> unless you know what "rc" means.  In the case of someone new to software
> development, I want them never to assume that "1.6.0-rc2" means "1.6.0
> plus something else, presumably desireable to have".  Note that this isn't
> without precedence; netatalk was distributed for years as netatalk-1.3+asun.
> It would be perfectly reasonable to assume that "rc" was someone's initials.

I disagree.  For the audience "has to make a choice of which version to
release without asking someone more knowledgeable", it's perfectly
serviceable.

Anyone not smart enough to know that rc in a version number means
Release Candidate shouldn't be picking their own version anyway, they
should be using a package, or asking someone (which comes to the same
thing).

> > Another proposal has been using 1.5 to indicate that it is a release
> > candidate. For example, 1.5.3, 1.5.3.1, 1.5.3.2, etc., would be the release
> > candidates for the upcoming 1.6.3 release.
> 
> This method is no less obvious than "rc1" for the untrained and ensures that
> people who do not wish to become guinea pigs will remain out of that arena
> (i.e. if they only choose the version that sorts to the bottom of the
> directory, they will always be running a release).

No, this is *much* less obvious than rc1.

> The universal problem is that we'd like people who know little to pick the
> right version, with no training (and yes, the system using "rc" to indicate
> release candidates is also a matter of training, the abbreviation is not
> obvious to the untrained).

Certainly.

People who know little should not be *trying* to interpret version
numbers; they should be using what a packager, a website, or a
knowledgeable other source *tells* them to use.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                   Baylink                      jra at baylink.com
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