LiveCode Forums.

I think it would be a good idea to post a clarification on the definition of the different release types on the downloads page. It seems that this has caused some confusion a few times, and it would be a s simple as putting this as kind of a disclaimer of sorts:

DP – developer preview (feature incomplete likely to be unstable)

RC – release candidate ( feature complete, likely to be quite stable but is not considered the final stable release)

GM – gold master ( feature complete stable release)


I took that from the blog post announcing LiveCode 6.7.0 DP1, and it seems like it should probably be right on top of the downloads page.

--Sefro

I agree and I would drop totally DP, RC and GM terms and leave just number progression. Open source means that there is never a final version.

@sefrojones: Good idea - I've send an email to Ben to see if he can add that soon.

@maxv: While it's true that every software package that hasn't been EOL'd is undergoing continual enhancement, I believe the letter designations are very useful for managing expectations, helping people to determine which build they want to work with:

DP = "Developer Preview": Roughly equivalent to the more traditional "Alpha" designation, these builds are suitable for testing but are still in development; there are known issues and may not be feature-complete.

RC = "Release Candidate": Similar to the more traditional "Beta", these builds are usually feature-complete, and internal testing has revealed no show-stopper bugs; it's now up to the community to test the build in their own workflows to ensure it meets their needs.

Stable: Similar to "Golden Master" (a throwback to the old days when software was delivered on CDs) or "Release", these builds are feature-complete, have passed internal testing, the community has tested them, and given all that presumably contain no critical issues, suitable for our own product deployment.

Personally, I tend to do my daily work with the most recent test build, using the most recent Stable build only for deployment. This way I'm able to identify issues that may affect my work before release, trusting the community's effort in testing to get to Stable for deployment to clients and customers.

Ok, so why Livecode don't use the well known alpha, beta and stable words?

I see a lot of projects use both these days. For myself it seems the terms RunRev uses are a bit more descriptive than the older "Alpha" and "Beta" designations.

Ben just sent me a note letting me know the Downloads page has been updated with the requested definitions:
http://downloads.livecode.com/livecode/

That's very good indeed.

Could there also be a note next to 6.6.2 pointing out that that is the last Mac PPC release?

Bye-the-bye: I just tried to install Livecode Community 6.6.2 Stable on my G5 iMac (Mac OS 10.5.8 ) and the installer went badly wrong.

richmond62 wrote:Could there also be a note next to 6.6.2 pointing out that that is the last Mac PPC release?

I'm not sure that will be the case. We do know that with the Cocoa stuff being the focus of v6.7 they'll need to drop support for PPC then, but if PPC is still supported in 6.6.2 there's a chance it may continue if there's a v6.6.3, and I've heard some suggestion there might be.

I just tried to install Livecode Community 6.6.2 Stable on my G5 iMac (Mac OS 10.5.8 ) and the installer went badly wrong.

What did you see?

The installer opened: the continue button then did not work, and only the quit button worked.

Sorry for the delay. Imagine having a fight with one's 19 year old son as to who gets to the G5 iMac first?

Well if you are into House Music my son may be the chap for you: https://soundcloud.com/andy-scot/beatrhyme-original-mix Lovingly mixed on the G5 iMac!

Personally House Music is "not for me".

Anyway, without further ado 2 pictures that probably tell several stories about my attempt to install LC 6.6.2 Community on the G5 iMac running Mac OS 10.5.8:
No icon!
Clicking on the installer.

Clicking on 'Continue' does NOTHING.

Hey Richmond,
I'd hang with your boy, his music and mixes are SWEET!

Simon

..........

That's a bit wonky: stopping at Mac OS 10.4.11 when 10.5.8 is the last Mac OS PPC version, for which
there are good reasons to deploy on a PPC Mac that can cope with it.

Possibly the oddest thing of all is that I can deploy LC 4.5 on Mac OS 10.5.8 with no trouble at all.

So, 6.6.2 looks like a retrograde step.

Apologies for the thread necromancy, but I have another suggestion(improvement?) That I think fits in this thread - What if the most recent stable built of all versions under development were available at the top of the downloads page? I think that it would be pretty convenient for people using multiple versions of LC, as well as clearing up any lingering confusion. Even with the disclaimer at the top, I think some users will still automatically jump to the latest release (regardless of development status) to download it. I think listing the most recent stable versions of all current incarnations at the top would be convenient and further clear up confusions.

Just my two cents.


--Sefro