re: releasing SqueakMap, going forward

Hi Doug--

	FWIW...

> 3.2.1 has already been created (as a fork in the update stream, it
> doesn't appear to be on the ftp site).  And 3.4alpha already has all
> of the 3.3alpha changes retrofitted into its update stream, plus a
> few other small changes.  So to make 3.4 consist of only 3.2final
> plus SqueakMap, we'd have to dump almost all of the stuff currently
> in the 3.4alpha update stream.  This would cause confusion for people
> currently using 3.4alpha, and it may also cause problems for some
> packages on SqueakMap which are listed as 3.4alpha-compatible and
> which may depend on some of the updates in 3.4alpha.

	I don't buy that argument, given the nature of "alpha" ("features
definitely missing, and possible bugs"). I think people who are willing
to use alpha releases should be prepared for stuff like this.
(http://netjam.org/smalltalk/versions.html)

> (I could go either way as to whether your suggestion or the current
> situation is the better way to handle it.  On one hand, Squeak does
> not normally update its minor version number (e.g. 3.2 to 3.4) based
> on such a small addition code-wise (SqueakMap)...

	I don't think SqueakMap is "a small addition". But regardless, I don't
think the creation of a new minor version should require any particular
new-feature-set magnitude. It's far more important to simply make clear
that the feature set has changed (and I don't see any great disadvantage
to declaring a version dead, especially if it has yet to reach the final
release stage). And I don't think tertiary versions ever carry their
cognitive weight.

> If we don't like tertiary version numbers for Squeak releases, maybe
> we could agree to try to avoid them in the future.

	That has my vote. :)

> John also suggested that we could have just updated 3.2 with SqueakMap
> and left the version number at 3.2, but I tend to agree with Craig
> that that would not have been a good idea, because Squeak 3.2 had
> already been released as "final" and was available on the download
> page at squeak.org for a couple of months.  If we had done this,
> there would have been confusion as to which version was the real
> 3.2final.  (For example, I think Stephane Ducasse might have used
> the original 3.2final to put on CD's for his book.)

	Very well put. :)


	thanks,

-C

--
Craig Latta
improvisational musical informaticist
[email protected]
www.netjam.org/resume
Smalltalkers do: [:it | All with: Class, (And love: it)]