See, that's exactly my point. I'm not sure that what extent the NAnt team performs testing. I know they have a relatively large set of tests. I assume those tests (and new ones as they're created) are executed prior to a nightly build getting published on the website. What I don't know is whether they perform any other testing prior to release. Then an official "stable" build is simply a nightly build that got promoted.
I've seen a lot of projects online that seem to simply promote nightly builds up to official "stable" status. In some of these projects they decide when the promotion should occur depending on what features have been completed. These projects tend to have a more formal release plan. >From this point of view I can see a project providing nightly builds as betas for users to try out. Once the feature list for a particular release is completed and the tests pass and the users using the nightly build find it stable (meaning the number of reported bugs drops down to some acceptable level) then that nightly build can be promoted. This doesn't mean you can't continue working on other features while you wait for your beta users (nightly build users) to try the software. All it means is that the developers need to differentiate between bugs reported for features in the upcoming release and features for releases down the road. Perhaps you don't officially announce features that are not included in the upcoming release although they are already implemented and they have tests, etc. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about how the NAnt team manages their project. I think they're doing a top-notch job considering that they're all volunteers and work on their own time! Management usually doesn't like to use betas in production systems. I think the NAnt team would benefit from officially defining what they consider an official "stable" release is and make that public. Then users can make better choices about what to use. They can also make better arguments to management as to using a particular nightly build (beta) version that happens to fix some important bug. I personally don't like to upgrade unless there's a bug that is fixed in the nightly build or a new feature exists that allows me to do my job easier. Otherwise, I don't upgrade simply because the team came out with a new nightly. I would spend most of my time upgrading if that was the case. To the NAnt team, keep up the good work! > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:nant-users- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mauro Ciaccio > Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 1:20 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [Nant-users] NAnt copies more files than VS.NET > > Hi, > > Though I am new to Nant, the problem posed is universal for all software. > My > view is that > for the nightly build to be the "official" build it should go through some > kind of > systematic automated testing that ensures the latest changes do not break > the existing > code. > > I realise that the automated testing is a lengthy and time-consuming task > to > set up, and > Gert and the other members of the team may not thing it worthwhile. In > that > case anyone that > downloads the latest version needs to be made aware of this, and should > only > run the latest > "stable" build. > > Mauro Ciaccio > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Castro, > > Edwin Gabriel (Firing Systems Engr.) > > Sent: 10 November 2004 23:05 > > To: Eric Deslauriers; Gert Driesen; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: RE: [Nant-users] NAnt copies more files than VS.NET > > > > > > This raises a really important question. What constitutes a release? I > > feel that every new nightly build is really a release since they are > > made available to all. The current official release is simply a really, > > really old nightly build anyway. I understand projects need to find a > > balance between having an official release and providing updates but I > > wonder if a team that "releases" nightly builds really needs to have an > > official release? > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:nant-users- > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Eric Deslauriers > > > Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 2:53 PM > > > To: Gert Driesen; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Subject: RE: [Nant-users] NAnt copies more files than VS.NET > > > > > > Thanks for the help. Unfortunately, I'm restricted to being on a > > stable > > > release by management for our prod work. > > > > > > If it helps, I can try 85 nightly and let you know. > > > > > > Eric D > > > > > > > > > > > > > The NAnt solution also relies on TLBIMP, which would mean, > > according > > > to > > > > > > > > > > http://www.mail-archive.com/nant- > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]/msg02212.html > > > > > > > > > > Try using a recent nightly build of NAnt > > > > (http://nant.sourceforge.net/nightly/builds), and let us know if > > that > > > > fixed > > > > your problems. > > > > > > > > Gert > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > > > This SF.Net email is sponsored by: > > > Sybase ASE Linux Express Edition - download now for FREE > > > LinuxWorld Reader's Choice Award Winner for best database on Linux. > > > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_idU88&alloc_id065&op=ick > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Nant-users mailing list > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-users > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > > This SF.Net email is sponsored by: > > Sybase ASE Linux Express Edition - download now for FREE > > LinuxWorld Reader's Choice Award Winner for best database on Linux. > > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_idU88&alloc_id065&op=ick > > _______________________________________________ > > Nant-users mailing list > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-users > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by: > Sybase ASE Linux Express Edition - download now for FREE > LinuxWorld Reader's Choice Award Winner for best database on Linux. > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=5588&alloc_id=12065&op=click > _______________________________________________ > Nant-users mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-users ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: Sybase ASE Linux Express Edition - download now for FREE LinuxWorld Reader's Choice Award Winner for best database on Linux. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_idU88&alloc_id065&op=click _______________________________________________ Nant-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-users
