Release more often?

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Hamburger
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Release more often?

Post by Hamburger »

an excerpt of our history (numbers may be slightly inaccurate - taken from my downloads' timestamps) :

Version - Release Date - delta to previous release
v1.7 - 05/2011
v1.8 - 08/2011 - 3 months
v1.9 - 11/2011 - 3 months
v2.0 - 03/2012 - 4 months
v2.1 - 07/2012 - 4 months
v2.2 - ../.... - - 7 months and counting

Nothing/noone is rushing us really - but is it to our advantage to have a growing gap between the last official version 'out there at the user base' and our current dev version? I will admit I find it uneasy/out of date to support problems with v2.1 - it is just soooo old and outdated by todays status I can hardly remember it. Other open source projects seem to follow the trend of 'release early & release often'.
Are we getting close to a status we might consider
+ stable enough
+ tested by developers and afficionados
What do others think? Does it matter at all?

copterrichie
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Re: Release more often?

Post by copterrichie »

Especially with the MSP communication. Many are waiting for a new MWC release before updating their software.

jy0933
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Re: Release more often?

Post by jy0933 »

maybe release dev more often for those who would like trying new feature..

maybe more integrated.. there are few great ideal/implementation from different forks... a annoying thing is that we have to choose what we like and put them together by ourselfs...a comprehensive dev ver will be interesting (even though there might be similar/repeating feature... but hey..... pick the one that works for you best>>>>mainly features like trig/echo sonar, NHA alt hold, data to frsky telemetry, etc)

i am aware that we are encountering the problem that it might exceed some smaller board memory...... it is good to make compromise for them... but long run, it is unavoidable to use only mega2560 or better (or add external memory for the smaller board)

alexia
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Re: Release more often?

Post by alexia »

it s what i like with multiwii project..
official release are without many bugs ..it s not the case apparently with others project
so for me i prefer to wait 6months or more but have a rock software

Deet
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Re: Release more often?

Post by Deet »

I think the issue also comes down to what to include in a release

From what I can see, what appears to be happening is that during the dev period, new ideas get introduced, so rather than issue a release version, then adding the newer idea to the next release, there is a desire to include all the new ideas.

V2.2 could've gone out with improved Alt hold and GPS (r1317 seems to be stable and a huge improvement) But instead, ideas for RTH on failsafe and WP structures have come along.They could maybe have gone into V2.3 and been released say in 6-8 weeks time, then inproved Gimbal solutions.... then who knows?

I think it might be easier if once a release is done, a list of improvements is set for the next release, and once they are achieved, a list for the following release can be done

copterrichie
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Re: Release more often?

Post by copterrichie »

+1 to what Deet Stated. Make a plan and stick to it.

Alexinparis
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Re: Release more often?

Post by Alexinparis »

Hi,

You're right, I planned to release the 2.2 much sooner, but:
- I was really too busy between November and January
- some nice feature always come, and it's not easy to make a break in developments

You convinced me it's time.
I estimate the current dev is quite stable.
So I'm going tonight to make some last mods I planned to do and:
- release a pre 2.2 (there will be probably some other during the next 10-15 days, depending on bug feedback)
- let devs correct some bugs during this time, with no new functionality
I will probably need some help to write the release note txt as there were tons of mods since 2.1.

For the steps after, a cleaner roadmap is probably the way to go.
I would like also to insist on something which is not so visible: the quality of code regarding size/speed/simplicity is something very important to me. Optimization is a perpetual challenge and a fascinating area.
Adding one individual mod is easy. Adding multiple scattered and non coordinated mods would lead inevitably to something impossible to maintain or not efficient.

Mystic3D
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Re: Release more often?

Post by Mystic3D »

I am .. now 6 weeks into Multiwii. My impression is very stable as been through 2.1 release, r1317, r1342.
Stability of code should not be under rated and rushed, new things can wait.
People always want things now, but in the long run they appreciate stability, so it was 15-30 days code freeze, no biggie.

Nice job guys.

subaru4wd
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Re: Release more often?

Post by subaru4wd »

I only hope that when 2.2 is released, the MW-WinGUI ( http://code.google.com/p/mw-wingui/ ) gets an update as well so I can quit using MultiWiiCONF & get that nifty Quad/Map overlay I was used to in 2.1

I have been using Dev1317 with great results, and cannot be forced to return to 2.1

I am very excited to hear 2.2 is just around the corner!! :D

In-Flight
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Re: Release more often?

Post by In-Flight »

Working in the technology industry, I've noticed multiwii does not adhere to standard release practices.
Major releases should be followed up with minor releases to fix bugs or make minor corrections that were missed with the initial release.

Major releases should only be for feature updates.
I think what MultiWii has been lacking is the minor (bug fix) releases.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_versioning

alexia
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Re: Release more often?

Post by alexia »

Alexinparis wrote:Hi,

You're right, I planned to release the 2.2 much sooner, but:
- I was really too busy between November and January
- some nice feature always come, and it's not easy to make a break in developments

You convinced me it's time.
I estimate the current dev is quite stable.
So I'm going tonight to make some last mods I planned to do and:
- release a pre 2.2 (there will be probably some other during the next 10-15 days, depending on bug feedback)
- let devs correct some bugs during this time, with no new functionality
I will probably need some help to write the release note txt as there were tons of mods since 2.1.

For the steps after, a cleaner roadmap is probably the way to go.
I would like also to insist on something which is not so visible: the quality of code regarding size/speed/simplicity is something very important to me. Optimization is a perpetual challenge and a fascinating area.
Adding one individual mod is easy. Adding multiple scattered and non coordinated mods would lead inevitably to something impossible to maintain or not efficient.

Fully agree.the quality of the code is very important.
The next step should be to increase and cleaner code.

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Hamburger
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Re: Release more often?

Post by Hamburger »

Alex,
To me our development cycle is fine.
1 storm of new features pouring in
2 consolidate stability
3. Feature freeze
4. Bug fixing
5 release
With intermittent dev.snapshots.

I think feature freeze is ok now or real soon. I would love to see Patriks servo addon to the gui be part of 2.2 but if it goes into 2.3 then so be it.

I will update the feature list in the wishlist thread next week,ok?
Good job everybody.

Sebbi
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Re: Release more often?

Post by Sebbi »

copterrichie wrote:+1 to what Deet Stated. Make a plan and stick to it.


I'll go and +1 that too. An outline of features similar to the wishlist thread, but a lot shorter would be a good thing ... also a proper bugtracker. This thread will probably get very confusing, very quickly ;-)

Alexinparis
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Re: Release more often?

Post by Alexinparis »

Hamburger wrote:Alex,
To me our development cycle is fine.
1 storm of new features pouring in
2 consolidate stability
3. Feature freeze
4. Bug fixing
5 release
With intermittent dev.snapshots.

Sure, we have not a lot of complaints about this process ;)
what happened recently: we see a lot of users starting directly with the devs (and not always very stable) because the functionality gap is high.
Reducing the release delay is a good way to keep devs only for what they should be used: testing.

I think feature freeze is ok now or real soon. I would love to see Patriks servo addon to the gui be part of 2.2 but if it goes into 2.3 then so be it.

feature freeze is now ;)
I don't think the data structure for servo is mature enough to develop new things on it.
As I said, it's important first to define precisely what is a servo for all needs, and then develop around with generic MIX principles.
So that HELI/WING/GIMBAL would just be be an instance of servo MIX, like a Y6 is an instance of motor MIX.

I will update the feature list in the wishlist thread next week,ok?

Ok, but for the release note, I need something exhaustive with forum/wiki links of what was added since r9xx

subaru4wd
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Re: Release more often?

Post by subaru4wd »

When can we expect an official changelog?

Im curious if a few things made it into the official 2.2 release or not.

Thanks Alex! No complaints here about how you release code :ugeek:

PatrikE
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Re: Release more often?

Post by PatrikE »

I know features frozen for V2.2 now :(
Servo is not ready for official quite yet.Still working on it.

The Settings Tab is ready for Launch but i din't get it ready before the V2.2 freeze. :cry:

Settings appears depending on activated functions in config
Min.jpg
Minimum of features defined in config.

Full.jpg
All settings thats available now.

2 New MSP is needed for the settings.
MSP_MISC_CONF
MSP_SET_MISC_CONF


/Patrik

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Hamburger
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Re: Release more often?

Post by Hamburger »

I promise to test it. Thanks.

PatrikE
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Re: Release more often?

Post by PatrikE »

Settings_Tab.zip Without Servosettings.

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