State of Play

[Jarrett Billingsley]

On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 6:07 PM, Walter Bright
<newshound1 at digitalmars.com> wrote:
>
> But that's why the download page divides the downloads into "latest" and
> "stable." If you want "stable", why download "latest"?

Stable doesn't just mean "not changing."  It also means "providing a
strong foundation upon which something can be built."  The older
compilers are usually anything but that, as the newer ones usually fix
more things than what they break.  The library developers are forced
to use newer compilers because there are showstopping bugs in the
older ones, and the library users are then forced to use newer
compilers as a result.  At least, that's what I've experienced.

> Furthermore, before release, it is made available to the DWT and Tango teams
> to see if it breaks them. If I made it generally available, how is that
> different from the "latest" on the download page? There's even a "bundle"
> version that comes with various libraries tested and verified with it.

Well usually problems only arise when things change - directory
structure, new features, language spec changes (.init).  Bugfixes
rarely create problems.  For example I'd welcome fixes to things like
bugs 313 and 314 (which are ancient, by the way) even if it means I
have to change my code, because I know that my code is more correct as
a result.  I feel like the idea behind the nightly releases is so that
when _changes_ occur, or when regressions are introduced, they can be
stamped out before a major release.  DWT and Tango are major projects
but are by no means an exhaustive testbed.

So what about the following counterargument: "even if nightly builds
were made available, how can we be sure that enough people are using
them to sufficiently test them?"  OK, sure, if not many people are
using the nightly builds, then there wouldn't be much benefit.  But it
does seem to work out fine for a lot of projects.  And with a proper
SCM set up which you commit to daily, there's virtually no work on
your part.  You just commit, and everyone else can download and
compile.