[TCLCORE] Re: 8.x tasks

[Jeffrey H. <jef...@aj...>]

> From: Donald G Porter [mailto:dg...@ca...]
	...
> > Dang, you trumped me.  As I said, I know of several things that could
> > go into an 8.3.3:
	... [list elided] ...

> Hmmm.  I'm not familiar with these issues, but the descriptions sound
> like feature enhancements (porting to new platforms, performance
> improvements) rather than bug fixes.  Things that can wait for Tcl 8.4.

While not necessarily bug fixes, these all fall under patch release
items.  "Platform ports" are definitely not feature enhancements.
Making things correct for IA-64 OSes is just like getting it right
for AIX or HP-UX.  Somewhere is a definition that we have gone by
on what sort of fix should go in what release.  Hmmm... can't find
it right now, but it's something like:

	* Major releases allow some change to backwards compatability,
	major new features
	* Minor releases allow new features (features being things like
	extending command syntax), but should maintain compatability as
	much as possible
	* Patch releases should be restricted to very certain fixes,
	should not add new features, and shouldn't affect compatability
	unless absolutely required (as was done in 8.3.2 to the IO C API
	to correct previous problems).

	...
> > I don't think that the TCT should focus on any 8.3 patch releases.
> > It should be looking forward, not backward.  There are no feature
> > discussions to have for 8.3, only bug fixes.  That's not to say that
> > members of the TCT can't participate - help's always welcome.
>
> That's an interesting perspective.  Does that mean that TCT's job
> is only to develop new software, and it's up to others to maintain
> what they release?  Who are those others?  Do they know?
>
> > At this point, I think the TCT has enough on its plate worrying about
> > getting a web site established and an infrastructure in place.  By
> > the time that's done, 8.4 will be looming a lot closer.
>
> I'm not suggesting another Tcl 8.3 release next week.  But if we need
> someone else to step forward to maintain Tcl 8.3.x, that should be
> announced.  The bug reports for Tcl/Tk 8.3.2 should be forwarded to
> someone who won't ignore them.

In all cases that person is me, and I'm aware of whatever might be
needed. The fact is that 8.3 really is just in maintainance mode right
now.  There isn't anything serious enough (as noted above) that demands
an 8.3.3 right now.  If such is needed, I'm prepared to make that effort.
Patch releases are much easier than minor version changes, which in turn
are significantly easier than a major version change.

Jeffrey Hobbs                     Tcl Ambassador
ho...@Aj...          Ajuba Solutions (née Scriptics)

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