I basically agree with your classifications.
So in my comments, I was channeling Bob’s latest blob post:
http://www.joyofsetup.com/2014/04/25/to-wix-v3-9-and-beyond/ that suggested now
is no longer the time to be adding features to WiX v3.9. Definitely more Bob’s
call than mine but I was playing devil’s advocate (because someone has too… and
usually it’s Bob. <smile/>)
I also feel that WiX v3.10 should be what you call a maintenance branch but I
suppose that depends a little on what the heck Visual Studio does next. Maybe
WiX v3.11 can be solely targeted to support VS-Next?
Given that there has been very little activity in WiX v4.0 besides what we’ve
done at FireGiant, I doubt it will be possible to make WiX v4.0 stable at the
same time we release WiX v3.9. However, I don’t know why that matters. WiX
v4.0 shouldn’t be more than 6-9 months out (I hope closer to 6 than 9 since we
originally stated v4.0 should go out summer or early fall). That means any
features going there should be going there quickly.
Basically, I’m once again suggesting we need to shift our focus from adding
features to WiX v3.x to adding features to WiX v4.0 and solely fixing bugs in
WiX v3.x. Note, this is just my suggestion (Bob still makes call on in/out for
WiX v3.x) but I’m curious if others think I’m way off base.
_______________________________________________________________
FireGiant | Dedicated support for the WiX toolset |
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From: Sean Hall [mailto:r.sean.h...@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2014 3:50 PM
To: WiX toolset developer mailing list
Subject: Re: [WiX-devs] Compatibility and style discussion
2. Here's my two cents on where features go. I think there should be three
types of active branches: maintenance, stable, and unstable.
Maintenance branches only take bug fixes. We don't have any of these right now.
Stable branches take all bug fixes and new features as long as they're
non-breaking. WiX 3.9 is a stable branch.
Unstable branches take bug fixes and new features even if they're breaking.
Unstable branches eventually convert to stable in order to prepare for release.
WiX 4.0 is an unstable branch that hasn't converted yet.
I think there should always be a stable branch, or at least an unstable branch
that has converted to stable. There's much more incentive for people to
contribute back when they can get their contribution integrated into the next
weekly build of a stable branch.
I think that the point that new features need to go only in 4.0 is when the 3.x
branches are maintenance branches. I think you should only be able to declare
a branch as a maintenance branch in the beginning. So if we want to stop
taking features in 3.x, we should pick a release date for 3.9, declare 3.10 as
a maintenance branch, and convert 4.0 into a stable branch no later than when
3.9 ships. In the meantime, I think it's perfectly fair to start requiring
people to start sending separate pull requests to 3.x and 4.0 if they want
their contribution in 3.x.
On Mon, Apr 28, 2014 at 2:45 PM, Bob Arnson
<b...@joyofsetup.com<mailto:b...@joyofsetup.com>> wrote:
1. Agreed. Sean, this work for you?
2. Way back when, I said[0] that "small features" were in scope for
v3.x. The interesting question is "at what point do new features go
*only* into v4.0"? Two aspects: (1) As v3.x and v4.0 diverge, there's an
opportunity cost for merging we have to account for. (2) Until v4.0 gets
closer to RTM, work done there won't see the light of day for a while,
which is a different kind of cost to account for.
I'd be happy if most everyone moves to v4.0 quickly and we can all work
in one repo. But I don't think we're quite at the point of PEP-404[1]. :)
[0] http://www.joyofsetup.com/2013/09/05/wix-v3-x-the-new-stable-wix-plan/
[1] http://legacy.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0404/
On 28-Apr-14 13:40, Rob Mensching wrote:
> 1. I worry very little about CodeDom. Plus if it's additive then a recompile
> should work cleanly. If a tri-state for Cache attribute is what we'd use in
> WiX v4.0 then I think we can add it in WiX v3.x okay.
>
> 2. What if we just do this in WiX v4.0 instead? At some point taking changes
> in WiX v3.x that are "more interesting" needs to stop right? At some point
> the new functionality needs to be in WiX v4.0. Honestly, interesting feature
> work needs to start in WiX v4.0 if we're still shipping WiX v4.0 this year
> (as think we should). Note: I haven't looked at the proposed change at all
> so this *may* not apply right now... but we need to start thinking that way
> soon, right?
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