[Scummvm-devel] 0.7.0 release schedule

Sun Dec 5 07:56:11 CET 2004

Yo folks,

I'd like to see a 0.7.0 release out of the door before Christmas (and I
am talking about Christmas 2004, mind you :-). To achieve this, I am
taking things into my own hands now, else we'll get nowhere, I am
afraid.

ATTENTION: Please, before you commit any major feature changes from now
on until we branch, first contact me to get clearance, else we'll start
destabilizing again. Of course, ports are exempt from this, several of
them don't even build right now, I am told, so they might need some
work... I am more talking about internal API changes, or adding
cool-but-experimental features.

PRIMARY GOALS:
The following things are essential (in my eyes) for 0.7.0; we can only  
release if we
meet them
- Major SDL port(s) ready (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X)
- WinCE port ready
   #1007397 (WINCE: Disapearing clock)

<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php? 
func=detail&aid=1007397&group_id=37116&atid=418820>
- PalmOS port ready
- Stability! -- this means everybody should start playing through  
games. Every game, that is.
   Ideally, from scratch, but you can also test old savegames of course.
   Test results should be collected and displayed on a web page, so that  
we have an overview
   on what still needs testing and what is already covered.
- Make sure the README is up-to-date

SECONDARY GOALS:
The following goals would be very nice to have, but we can release even  
without them:
- Dreamcast port ready
   #1072753 (DC: Backend needs to be update for FilesystemNode changes)

<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php? 
func=detail&aid=1072753&group_id=37116&atid=418820>

<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php? 
func=detail&aid=1072753&group_id=37116&atid=418820>)
- Morphos port ready
- Additional SDL ports ready: BeOS, *BSD, Solaris, ...
- Improve support for multi cd games (?) like COMI. See also

<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php? 
func=detail&aid=1019790&group_id=37116&atid=418820>
- Fix these bugs:
   #883415 (COMI: Guybrush appears above tomb)

<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php? 
func=detail&aid=883415&group_id=37116&atid=418820>
   #894249 (FT: Error when escing smush scene)

<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php? 
func=detail&aid=894249&group_id=37116&atid=418820>
   #1018588 (FT: Xlib async errors in INSANE sequences)

<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php? 
func=detail&aid=1018588&group_id=37116&atid=418820>
   #1019790 (COMI: CD swapping and savegames?)

<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php? 
func=detail&aid=1019790&group_id=37116&atid=418820>
   #1067648 (DOTT: Hang after entering the copy protection code (PALM))

<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php? 
func=detail&aid=1067648&group_id=37116&atid=418820>
   #1074931 (GUI: Starting games in fullscreen doesn't work)

<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php? 
func=detail&aid=1074931&group_id=37116&atid=418820>
   #1077394 (BS1: Crash with italian language and subtitles)

<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php? 
func=detail&aid=1077394&group_id=37116&atid=418820>

ADDITIONAL GOALS:
Of course people are welcome to fix other bugs and achieve other goals.
Be wary, though, and carefully evaluate the potential use/boon of your
work compared to the potential problems (like, in the form of  
regressions)
that it might cause.

SCHEDULE:
The following things shall be done by the end of the given dates (as
time of the involved persons, esp. porters, allows). I am using
saturdays nights as "break points", because that should give people some
time to work on things at the weekends yet allows us to get things
progressed on the following sunday. Of course this schedule is not set
in stone but I hope we can get close to it.

Things to do till 2004-12-11 (next Saturday):
- get any last "major" changes in (only stuff you consider important)
- getting ports working again. If you can't get your port ready till
   then, please notify us (reply to the list) and we can delay branching
   a bit. If that's not enough, you'll have to backport your backend
   fixes to the 0.7.0 branch
- feel free to start testing games for regressions

==========

Things happening on 2004-12-12 (next Sunday):
- 0.7.0 branch will be created
- testing
- fix bugs & regressions

==========

Things to do till 2004-12-18 (Saturday):
- getting any remaining ports working
- testing, testing
- fix bugs & regressions

==========

Things happening on 2004-12-19 (Sunday):
- README and NEWS file will be updated for the release
- testing, testing, testing
- 0.7.0 branch will be frozen, except for *vital* bug fixes. If you are
   not sure about it, ask first before commiting anything to it

==========

Things to do till 2004-12-22 (Wednesday):
- testing, testing, testing!!!
- emergency bug fixes
- on that day, the release will be tagged and I'll build source
   tarballs, to be used by everybody for building the binaries

==========

2004-12-22/23
- I'll tag 0.7.0 on the branch, and create source binaries, in the  
night from the 22nd
   to the 23rd -- *if* we have reached all primary goals till then.
   Else we'll have to postpone the release
- binaries should start coming in (made from the official release source
   tarball, ideally; this also serves as a last test for the release
   tarball), so that we can have an easy release on the 24th.
- writing the release announcment text

==========

2004-12-24
- official release -- *if* we have reached all primary goals, see above
- binaries are officially released as SF.net
- website gets updated for 0.7.0
- announcements will be posted by ender, me and others to:
   - our homepage
   - sf.net news
   - freshmeat
   - versiontracker.com
   - SlashDot (ideally somebody not from the core team should do that)
   - feel free to suggest other places, too

==========

Things that (probably) won't make it into this release but which I'd
really like to see for the next one:
- user manual (see also the new "docs" module in CVS; and maybe also
   Ender's work will surface one day)
- some backends don't support all games -> make sure that information  
is reflected
   on the compatibility page on our homepage, as well as in the manual &  
README
- improved options dialog(s) in the GUI (yeah yeah, all my fault :)
- more bugs fixed, of course :-)
- lots of other stuff in the TODO file ;-)

==========

Cheers,

Max