Officially supported Oolite version

[Cmdr James]

As far as I understand we currently use some non stable libraries (Spidermonkey, I think), and the boss does not think it is suitable to declare ourselves stable when we use libraries that are not.

For all practical purposes 1.74.2 is the current version that most people should use, but technically 1.65 is the latest stable.

[Eric Walch]

Oolite OXP authors need to make a choice if they want to develop against a stable API (1.65) and have the guarantee that this will still work at least up to and including then next stable version, or if they want to embrace all the goodness in the latest unstable version but face problems when the API changes until there is a new stable version. So for them the distinction is very important.

The last few years I have not seen an oxp that only targeted 1.65. The main reason is that the JS system gives so many new possibilities. One very big problem with 1.65 is that a lot of oxp writers don't add a minimum version to their oxp. And one thing that crashes 1.65 are ships with too many faces. So when you install a lot of new oxp with 1.65 you'll be sure it will crash anytime when it tries to add such a ship to the system. I know as I had to add a lot of max versions to many oxps in my set to still be able to run my old 1.65 for testing purposes.

[maik]

If the labeling of 1.74 as test release, of 1.65 as stable, and of the versioning as silly neither serves users nor OXP authors except for academic discussions, then why not do away with that, retire 1.65, and remove the label from 1.74? If someone insists on downloading it it can still be found on Berlios I think...

[Commander McLane]

What I was trying to drive at is wouldn't it be better to just remove references to the stable version 1.65? It seems to serve little purpose.

Instead we could refer to a "supported" Oolite version which might be 1.74 or maybe 1.74.2. I'm not trying to tread on anyone's toes here - it's just that it seems better to change nomenclature than put on the web "...using the test releases instead is recommended. Yes, we realise this sounds silly."

If the labeling of 1.74 as test release, of 1.65 as stable, and of the versioning as silly neither serves users nor OXP authors except for academic discussions, then why not do away with that, retire 1.65, and remove the label from 1.74? If someone insists on downloading it it can still be found on Berlios I think...

I guess we could find a better way to explain it on the download pages. But we can't call an apple an orange if it simply isn't an orange.

Oolite 1.65 is in fact the latest "official" version of Oolite. Since it was released there is a heavy development of the code-base going on which is still not finished, therefore all versions since 1.67 (because of an oversight of the developers there never existed a version 1.66, which would have been the logical next number) are intermediate test versions, aiming for and going towards a next "official" release, which just for fun is known in these forums as the MNSR (mythical next stable release; "mythical" because the progression towards it has been so slow that one could doubt whether we would ever get there). There were hopes that Oolite 1.70 could be it, then we were hoping for 1.72, then for 1.73. Currently I don't really expect 1.75 to be it, but the developers could prove me wrong, of course.

Oolite 1.65 was released on July 18th, 2006, which is a long time ago. Ever since the game has been in a state of development. For any commercial game many deadlines would have been missed since, and the corporation bosses would be furious with the developers. However, Oolite is not a commercial enterprise, and our developers are doing all their work in their free time, as a hobby. Therefore there are no deadlines apart from those which they have set for themselves, and nobody can blame them for missing a deadline. Still, that doesn't change the simple fact that version 1.65 was the last stable release, which was released with the claim that it could stand for itself.

Since then everything flows, and the code has changed so much that you could say that the current version has very little to do with version 1.65, especially as far as the scripting and modelling features are concerned. And still the development in continuing, until finally a version emerges which again can stand for itself: the MNSR (whatever version number it may carry).

In the meantime, only the current latest version will ever be the "supported" version, because this is what the developers are working at.

[mcarans]

I guess we could find a better way to explain it on the download pages. But we can't call an apple an orange if it simply isn't an orange.

Oolite 1.65 is in fact the latest "official" version of Oolite. Since it was released there is a heavy development of the code-base going on which is still not finished, therefore all versions since 1.67 (because of an oversight of the developers there never existed a version 1.66, which would have been the logical next number) are intermediate test versions, aiming for and going towards a next "official" release, which just for fun is known in these forums as the MNSR (mythical next stable release; "mythical" because the progression towards it has been so slow that one could doubt whether we would ever get there). There were hopes that Oolite 1.70 could be it, then we were hoping for 1.72, then for 1.73. Currently I don't really expect 1.75 to be it, but the developers could prove me wrong, of course.

Oolite 1.65 was released on July 18th, 2006, which is a long time ago. Ever since the game has been in a state of development. For any commercial game many deadlines would have been missed since, and the corporation bosses would be furious with the developers. However, Oolite is not a commercial enterprise, and our developers are doing all their work in their free time, as a hobby. Therefore there are no deadlines apart from those which they have set for themselves, and nobody can blame them for missing a deadline. Still, that doesn't change the simple fact that version 1.65 was the last stable release, which was released with the claim that it could stand for itself.

Since then everything flows, and the code has changed so much that you could say that the current version has very little to do with version 1.65, especially as far as the scripting and modelling features are concerned. And still the development in continuing, until finally a version emerges which again can stand for itself: the MNSR (whatever version number it may carry).

In the meantime, only the current latest version will ever be the "supported" version, because this is what the developers are working at.

I agree with all of what you've said. I think there could be a reference to 1.65 being the latest stable release on a development related area rather than the download page (ie. a place that developers rather than users browse). The fact that the current version on the download page is the "supported" version can be highlighted which would help users.

[Commander McLane]

The fact that the current version on the download page is the "supported" version can be highlighted which would help users.

I just thought that was self-explanatory. We are progressing from one version to another, which is why version numbers increase. Obviously a version—especially a test version—with a number lower than the current number is outdated news from yesteryear, and nobody would expect any support for it.

[mcarans]

The fact that the current version on the download page is the "supported" version can be highlighted which would help users.

I just thought that was self-explanatory. We are progressing from one version to another, which is why version numbers increase. Obviously a version—especially a test version—with a number lower than the current number is outdated news from yesteryear, and nobody would expect any support for it.

If the message about Version 1.65 being the latest full release of Oolite on the download page were put somewhere else, then it would probably be self-explanatory.