Trunk Frozen for 1.1 BetaWednesday July 10th, 2002The main development trunk was frozen today in preparation for the release of Mozilla 1.1 Beta. Until the trunk is reopened, only approved fixes can be checked in. To get approval for a patch, mail drivers@mozilla.org with "[trunk approval]" in the subject. The ideal release date for 1.1 Beta is Wednesday 17th July (though, as usual, this is not set in stone). Where can we d/l and test the builds? > Where can we d/l and test the builds? There's no branch for 1.1 Beta yet. You can download the latest trunk nightly from ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla/nightly/latest-trunk/ Alex I'm a bit confused here. Is 1.0.1 being abolished in favor of 1.1b? No, 1.0.1 has not been abolished in favor of 1.1beta. The 1.0.x releases and the 1.x releases are serving different purposes. The 1.0.x releases (of which 1.0.1 will be the first) are only for a limited set of high value, low risk changes or for security fixes for the 1.0.0 release (or products based on the 1.0.0 release). The 1.x releases (of which 1.1 will be the first) are for new features and general bug fixes. However, unlike the 0.x.y series of milestones Mozilla has switched to an alpha/beta/final release cycle. See http://www.mozilla.org/roadmap.html The 1.x branch is for really big changes that have a larger chance of creating new bugs and crashes. 1.0.x is only for very major crash or high visiblity bugs or minor features. 1.0.x is for embedding into other products as a "stable" branch while 1.1a, 1.1b is for testing purposes of the big changes and features that they added. An article posted here a couple of weeks ago said 1.0.1 was "basically done." What's going on? Did they run into problems? 1.0.1 is on its way. The 1.0.x and 1.x releases are on completely seperate schedules. Alex What will be the differance between the final release of 1.0.1 and 1.1, I would think that 1.1 would be a later, and more up to date, version than 1.0.1, or am I missing something again 1.0.1 will be from the 1.0 branch and will only contain critical fixes (for crash bugs and security flaws) and other low-risk "additive" changes (such as the 'New Tab' button on the tab bar). All checkins to the branch are approved by drivers@mozilla.org to maintain stability. 1.1, on the other hand, will come from the trunk. Most of the new development work is focussed on the trunk, so 1.1 will contain larger changes such as new features. Checkins to the branch aren't as strictly controlled (though approval from drivers@mozilla.org is required during the freeze before milestone releases such as 1.1 Alpha and 1.1 Beta). So, yes, 1.1 will be more up to date in that it will have more risky changes in it. Of course, some changes that appear in 1.1 will also be in 1.0.1. Alex > 1.0.1 will be from the 1.0 branch and will only contain critical > fixes (for crash bugs and security flaws) and other low-risk > "additive" changes (such as the 'New Tab' button on the tab bar). > All checkins to the branch are approved by drivers@mozilla.org > to maintain stability. btw, what's the "New Tab" button about? Didn't see it in 2002071107 branch build... Okay, so what sort of schedule is 1.0.1 on? Last I heard, it should have been released by now. "Okay, so what sort of schedule is 1.0.1 on? Last I heard, it should have been released by now." I guess it will be out any day now. These things tend to get delayed. Alex "Okay, so what sort of schedule is 1.0.1 on? Last I heard, it should have been released by now." You heard that it should have been released by now? Where did you hear a release date. The release will happen when it's ready. Jud posted an announcement saying we were very close. We are. --Asa Here is where I heard that it should have been released by now. On June 27 or 28 Jud said, "Mozilla 1.0.1 should be complete by the middle of next week, bar any unforeseen problems (if you know of any, tell drivers@mozilla.org now)." That was two weeks ago. Of course when it is done it is done, the question asked, but not answered is when will that be? Howie OK, I missed that posting. Well, it was nearly ready. But 1.0.1 shouldn't really be of any interest to most of us since 1.1 is where we need the majority of testing (and it's also the most interesting because there is nothing happening on the 1.0.x branch that isn't also happening on the trunk and there's much happening on the trunk that isn't happening on the branch.) -Asa It COULD be of interest to a lot of us. For example, I am trying to wean my boss away from the evil empire and have convinced him to try Mozilla. Now, IMHO, it will be far more productive if he uses a version that, whilst not being completely state of the art, is as stable as possible. Of course, this means that if it takes a few more days to get rid of more bugs, then that is fine. However, if it takes too long, ... --Tony. So you really want to be waiting for Netscape 7 and not Mozilla 1.0.1. Or if you really are set on giving your boss a Mozilla build then grab a branch nightly build now. Waiting for it to be as stable as possible means never using it since we land fixes every single day. But I suspect that your situation is in the minority. Most people at mozillaZine are not eagerly anticipating the next release on someone else's behalf. Most people are looking forward to getting the latest and greatest binaries and for them the trunk is the place to be. Overall uptime is pretty much the same on the trunk as it is on the branch and the trunk has gobs of new features and performance improvements. --Asa Asa, You said: "Waiting for it to be as stable as possible means never using it since we land fixes every single day." But for the person who wants to show their boss Mozilla, wouldn't 1.0.1 be, at least in theory, the most stable and least buggy verison of Mozilla? Sure, a nightly branch build should be about the same thing but at least with 1.0.1, you can point to a specific release, versus nightly build from July 12, 2002, or whatever. I'm using the 1.0 branch and the trunk builds for myself but I install 1.0 branch builds (not necessarily official releases) on my clients computers. My boss gave me a strange look the first time he started up mozilla and saw the lizard. But no one has ever complained about mozilla being the standard browser and mail client. Yes, the lizard is the main reason I install them all in quicklaunch mode. Its kinda embarrasing in a commerical venue, though it is nice and appropriate for personal use. Wish netscape based builds were nightly, hell I'd love it if I could easily slap the netscape startup screen and icons on mozilla, I'd be happy. you can. look around a little bit and you'll find how. I know how to change the spash screen, I just wish it was easier to do pre-install, don't quite have the knowledge to break apart the installer, put the bmp in and put it all back together. Who me? I am utterly baffled by why I am seeing this box. I jsut tried to log in and I get You need to fill out the Response field! You need to fill out the Title field! Apologies if this is going out "live". I don't mean to waste anyone's time, but this really is counter intuitive! FM Asa, I agree with you completely, waiting for the perfect beast would mean he would never get it. However, as he doesn't want to wait forever, so I decided that waiting for 1.0.1 would be the best compromise. Also, as it's for his home machine, I would definitely lose more Brownie points if it kept crashing for his wife. I normally am in a minority (perhaps 'cos I'm a Brit) but wouldn't it be better if I wasn't? If we all got our superiors to use the most stable Mozilla available, then perhaps we could have an effect on the evil empire. On a personal note, I do eagerly await, download and use the latest nightly every weekday. Tony. "Here is where I heard that it should have been released by now. On June 27 or 28 Jud said, 'Mozilla 1.0.1 should be complete by the middle of next week, bar any unforeseen problems (if you know of any, tell drivers@mozilla.org now).' That was two weeks ago." Jud didn't say that; I did http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=2328 - however, I was paraphrasing Jud's newsgroup posting http://groups.google.com/groups?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8&as_umsgid=3D1CB8CD.3020004%40netscape.com from June 28th. Anyway, there's no set release date for milestones. They happen when they're ready. It's rare for the ideal release date and the actual release date to occur on the same day. Alex Hi, Sorry if i'm wrong here, I don't know that much about software development. But here it goes: Why do they freeze the trunk? Shouldn't they branch it, and then freeze the branch - so that people can keep working on the trunk if they so desire? Could someone please explain? Regards, Michael In short, because this provides more incentive for people to fix some regressions... There would be no incentive whatsoever to work on the branch. They may eventually cut it, right now I think having a 1.0 branch and the 1.1 trunk is enough to deal with. Once it does branch new features will be going in for 1.2 further dilluting the workload, in pre 1.0 days they would generally freeze and then cut 3 or 4 days later. Its really drivers decision right now, hopefully the right comprimise will be made. BTW, current roadmap shows 1.1 will be cut (for work to be added for 1.2) first week of august with 1.1 being released, probably a week later. remember how long it took to get 1.0.0 polished enough on its branch for a release? each vertical line in the future on the roadmap is a single 'pinch of salt', and rightly so. I hardly think 1.1.0 is going to be a single week on its branch before release. remember, a lot of people will be be watching, and hopefully eventually using it. we want people to upgrade safely from 1.0.x to 1.1.0 and feel no loss of goodness. I would have thought a release sometime in September was more realistic But we don't really want the kinds of people who should be using Mozilla 1.0 to upgrade to 1.1. 1.1 will be, by definition, more unstable. not atall. by definition it should be *more* stable. 1.1 alpha and 1.1 beta are, by definition, more unstable; but 1.1, 1.2 etcetera are major stable milestones 1.0.1 is the stable branch, 1.1 is the semistable trunk. Obviously 1.1 will be more stable than a nightly, but I wouldn't expect it to be any more stable that an average pre 1.0 milestone. Basically these 1.x builds are going to lead up to a stable new feature rich 2.0 eventually. From what I have been able to tell, 1.1 and 1.2 etc. are like continuations of 0.8, 0.9. They're the releases that have the latest features and updates in them, but are *not* polished and debugged to same extent as the 1.0 and 1.0.1 release has been and will be. This is definitely a very common point of confusion, among me and many others from what I can see. So here is what we want to know: Will the milestone releases of Mozilla 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 etc have the same level of polish, stability, debuggedness, completeness as Mozilla 1.0 and Mozilla 1.0.1 ? Darin If not, can someone give *some* sort of idea as to what the next released version of Mozilla will be that _will_ have this level of completeness? Should we consider the 1.1 and 1.2 and 1.3 versions the same as we considered 0.8, 0.9, or the same as 0.9.8, 0.9.9 ? Will the next version that has this level of completeness be like a Mozilla 1.5 or Mozilla 2.0 but released before the 1.1, 1.2 versions get to that number? As I understand it, 1.1 should be just as stable as 1.0. Perhaps 1.0 was slightly different, given the extra level of care taken over it for obvious reasons (both of publicity and for 'we've waited this long, another week won't kill us' thoughts) but as a rule 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 should be equivalently stable. I'm not sure about 2.0, however. I guess as some point there will be a new branch, effectively creating a new trunk, where major changes, including in architecture (including XUL changes, not just additions) will happen, and after much development this will become 2.0. But, given that this will be a different platform, the two strands will live on separately, much as Gnome 1 will do even once Gnome 2 is established. What they won't be, however, is as stable as 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3 etc., which are basically exactly like 1.0 but with added polish and any later issues ironed out. But as you say, there is a lot of confusion abounding - I could well be wrong. roll on Asa, with some clarity, to clear your confusion... 1.1 will be more stable than 1.0 --Asa ... are third party developers, now working on products based on the 1.0.x branch, encouraged to switch to the 1.1 branch? In other words, does the 1.1 branch replace the 1.0.x branch or is the 1.0.x branch still the ONLY FULL RELEASE branch? The 1.1 branch being merely a SNAPSHOT OF DEVELOPMENT on the trunk. I'm very interested in knowing. The versions and releases, etc. are confusing to me, also. I stayed on the trunk with 1.1 alpha because it offered a couple of features that 1.0 did not that I considered necessary. I know there are still nightly branch builds of 1.0 and, after 1.1 goes beta this week there will supposedly be a 1.2 alpha on the way. Are any of the developers confused? Or, is it just me. I'm sure it all makes sense somehow. Could somebody please explain it in a way that we might all understand? In general the developers are not confused using multiple branches. You're not even aware of the half a dozen or so other development branches that developers are working on. Developers pretty much get the concept. Maybe a picture helps http://www.mozilla.org/roadmap.html#tree-management --Asa Can we expect all 1.x releases to be as stable as 1.0 though. I'm sure there will come a time when new crash landing will happen eventaully, and these will obviously happen on the 1.x branches. Or is something different planned. We'd love to trust 1.x for stability, but we do know that there is a need for a developmental trunk. Plans are nessessary. I think that's what the Alpha's are for. Things crash-land on the alpha, stabilize somewhat on the beta, and get polished on the 1.x release. Sorry I changed the title on my previous message by mistake. Well, actually I just ignored the title and noticed after I'd submitted it that it doesn't take the title from the thread. What's going on there? It looks like the title is being filled in from the last message I posted. The branch nightly Mozilla 1.0.1 was actually posted first on Wed.3rd July 2002, as shown on its About page viewed from within Mozilla, if not earlier. But for Mac Classic users this only became obvious on 11th July when the Finder GetInfo window started to show the same version details too correctly. trying to make facts from these pieces of information from software in the process of development is a pointless task. its only actually 1.0.1 when, say, mozilla.org says it is with an announcement on their web site, for one of a number of examples 1) Why is "open in new tab" now below "open in new window" when you right click? That IMHO is a huge mistake. One of the few big reasons to use Mozilla is tabbed browsing, so why is it getting second tier billing? 2) I really hope this is a bug, but I cannot add bookmarks to the "personal toolbar". Without this feature, how am I supposed to quickly access the sites access daily. If this ia a bug so be it. If its not, it might put me off Moz as my daily browser. 1) For 'consistency reasons' In the 'file -> new' menu, window comes first as well. I think there are a few requests to have the order based on if you use tabbed browsing or not, but that is apparently bad again from a user-interface-design point of view (created confusion when switching betweencompuers; which I can understand, even though I think the sheer usability of it would make it worth it). There are a few bugs with a lot of discussion about it out there, but don't have the numbers handy right now so you'll have to go and search for them yourself if you want to know more. 2) Are there any links in there already? If so, I expect this is a bug, wihch will undoubtedly be fixed shortly. If not, maybe you haven't set any folder to be _the_ personal toolbar folder. (After inadvertedly deleting the previous personal toolbar.) Go to bookmarks -> manage bookmarks, select a folder and choose view -> set as personal toolbar folder. (I'm using someone else's computer with mozilla 1.0 right now, so the exact phrasing of menuitems might have changed.) 1) Why is "open in new tab" now below "open in new window" when you right click? That IMHO is a huge mistake. One of the few big reasons to use Mozilla is tabbed browsing, so why is it getting second tier billing? 2) I really hope this is a bug, but I cannot add bookmarks to the "personal toolbar". Without this feature, how am I supposed to quickly access the sites access daily. If this ia a bug so be it. If its not, it might put me off Moz as my daily browser. |