Sun wrote: >> A separate issue is whether the Wikipedia article should include code >> that only works with an experimental library in an unreleased version of >> Watir. >> > > A valid point. I do point out immediately following the example that "it may > be necessary to download and install the current development Watir gem rather > than using the standard Watir release" to make sure people are aware of this. > I assume that when the 1.5.x release is available, that this feature will be > incorporated even if it is from that separate directory. In the mean time, > people who read the article are informed that if they want to use this bit of > code, they need the development gem and not the standard release. > The feature will be incorporated in 1.5, one way or another, but the way it is used may change. No one should assume that this code on the Wikipedia will work with the released version of 1.5 without modification.
Everything in contrib should be considered to be experimental and therefore subject to change. We have a lot of code that is currently in the main Watir package that we plan to move to contrib because it currently lacks unit tests (or has weak unit tests) and therefore has been difficult to support and is sometimes buggy. We will also provide mechanisms to minimize the complications for those upgrading from from 1.4 who have been using such code. I suspect that some people will want to only use the reliable and supported parts of Watir and not the experimental code. If there is demand for it, we will package separate Standard Watir and Experimental Watir distributions for 1.5. Other open-source projects do this. I've been getting some private emails from people who are upset by this. But the only thing that will convince me to change my mind about putting stuff in contrib is unit tests. Please write unit tests instead of sending me pleading emails. Unit tests allow us to refactor the code, making it easier to use, more reliable, and ensuring that it continues to work with future releases. Without unit tests, we cannot support code. In the past we made some exceptions, but this rule will be much more strictly enforced with 1.5. Bret _______________________________________________ Wtr-general mailing list [email protected] http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/wtr-general
