DMD needs branches

[torhu]

Chris Miller wrote:
> I'm sure this was brought up in the past, but DMD definitely needs stable  
> and unstable branches.
> 
> -v1 doesn't cut it. My code is compiled with -v1 and still breaks with new  
> DMD versions.
> 
> Each new DMD version is bug-ridden. This new one 1.011 is pretty bad!

I'm also having the same problems with my D projects.  I just added 
'doesn't compile with 1.011' to the readme.txt for one project.

Since branches has been suggested before, and nothing has happened, I 
have a suggestion that might mean less extra work for Walter, but still 
improve the situation a bit:  Release a version marked as a beta or 
release candidate before the final version.

If the beta version is accepted by the community (all very informal, 
what 'accepted' means will have to be Walter's call in each case), it 
can be renamed, or even just reannounced as a final version.  The zip 
file should at least be renamed, even if the compiler's version number 
is not changed (in order to avoid the risks of a recompiling and 
repackaging).

If the beta version is deemed too buggy, two things can happen.  The 
first being to just skip the final release for now.  And then release a 
new beta, with the usual mix of bugfixes and new features.  The second 
option is to release a new beta, with only bugfixes, but that might be 
too close to actual branching to be considered for most cases.

Hopefully, people that don't feel like living on the bleeding edge will 
choose the versions marked as 'final', and stay away from the betas. 
And people won't excpept any given library or app to compile with a beta 
version of dmd.