[Scummvm-devel] ScummVM 1.1.0 has been tagged

[Max Horn]

Am 02.04.2010 um 08:58 schrieb Travis Howell:

> On 1/04/2010 7:33 PM, Max Horn wrote:
>> Am 01.04.2010 um 05:20 schrieb Travis Howell:
>>> Why did ScummVM 1.1.0 get tagged, when we still have regressions? bugs
>>> #2961787, #2976353 for example. It is still not clear how many of the
>>> Nippon Safe bugs are regressions either, due to that recent load/save issue.
>> 
>> It was made clear by Peres the he cannot work on these bugs. And nobody else offered to work on them. So there seems to be no point in waiting for a magic resolution of these. OK, we can delay 1.1.0 -- by weeks? Months? And then we release a ScummVM which lags by that amount behind the ScummVM trunk.
> 
> Yes, that was mentioned during the previous release cycle (for ScummVM 
> 1.0.0). But I didn't see any response at all, to your recent query about 
> Parallaction engine to Peres, unless it was not CCed to the mailing 
> list. Nor did I see any actual request for other people to handle Nippon 
> Safe regressions, or the Parallaction engine in the meantime.

I just checked, he emailed to Eugene and me directly, not to -devel.


> 
> If Nippon can't be worked on for 'x' amount of time, then why even make 
> a release in the meantime?

Because ScummVM is not just Nippon, and we should not let one game or one port hold back everybody else. That would be unfair to the rest of the team. 

> since bugs in Nippon Safes were an issue for 
> the last release cycle too. With a few of the more recent bug reports 
> for Nippon Safes, occurring under ScummVM 1.0.0 too.

Exactly. Nippon had problems before, nobody has time to fix them right now -> it makes no sense to wait for it.

I could understand if you argued that we should just disable the whole parallaction engine for the 1.1.0 release completely. I don't understand why we should hold up e.g. the release of TeenAgent and Draci for it, though.



> We are not a commercial product, and don't have any reasons that a major
>>> release must be produced by a specific date. So I really don't see why
>>> major releases are pushed through, when they are good reasons
>>> (regressions in this case) for delays.
>> 
>> See above. I don't think commercial vs. non-commercial has any relevance here.
> 
> No, you still have not answered why a major release must be made at this 
> point in time. Only stated why you don't think it worth waiting.

I think the items in the NEWS file alone are sufficient reason to make a release. Also, the longer our release cycles are, the more impatient people get, and the more of them switch to using unstable SVN build anyway, and then complain about half-finished changes that cause regressions for them. This includes in particular our snapshots, which are never guaranteed to be stable. 

Personally, I'd prefer if we made a release at least every 3 months, actually, and I think it would benefit of users *and* developers.

Directing end users to snapshots is *not* a good thing. It's a crutch, to cover up our inability to hold to a more useful release cycle.

[...]

> 
>> By the way, *I* felt pissed that we are having this very discussion
>> again, and that you waited till *after* all the tagging work was done
>> to complain, instead of voicing your concerns, say, 2 days ago...
> 
> Yes, I incorrectly assumed the release manager was still monitoring 
> recent update to the bug reports, and wouldn't tag while there were 
> still known regressions.

The release manager, i.e., *me*, despite your implications of "his" incompetence, and despite having possibly even *less* time to spare than you, has done just that, and made his call on the issues. He looked through the bug tracker, and resolved over a dozen bugs in the past weeks; he worked on bug scanning and release tagging till well after 3 AM on Wednsday and had to get to work 6 hours later, too. He already looks forward with "great joy" to handling the actual release process... 

And after all that he then had to cope with complaints by you that were conveniently made just after all the work had been done. And then you tell him that no, *you* don't have the time to do the job, either.


I have to agree with you on one thing? Where is the point? Why do we even make releases? Heck, why do I even waste one minute to work on this whole project? 

I'll think about it till sunday, either I know again why, or not, then you'll get your wish!


Max