[CF-Devel] TODO List - Flamebait

[Peter Mardahl]

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      Firstly, the repository is being used to fix bugs in the last release -
     
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      fine and good. But it is also being used to "test" new features (an
     
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      example is the race/class split). Is this the best way?
     
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      Is there a way of just getting a patch that handles the bugs in 0.95.7
     
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      without the new features?
     
     
This is fine in theory, but it gets confusing in practice, and it
is also more work.  What you're proposing is that we maintain separately 
2+ branches:  one "stable" branch for bugfixes only, and development branches.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good idea, but it is also more hoops for
the developer to jump through and makes it less fun and requires more
in-depth CVS knowledge on the part of developers.  

Not only should we keep game PLAY easy and fun, so we keep players,
we should keep game DEVELOPMENT easy and fun (and open!), so we
keep developers.  (Easy in the sense of little boring administrative stuff!)

I also don't think that features + fixes in the same cvs-line 
is much of a problem in crossfire:  we simply don't have that many
active developers, most of the time.  Yeah, you get the effect of
the new features creating bugs as fast as the bugfixers fix them,
but Mark can always call a feature freeze for a while and we can
emphasize testing in preparation for a release.

His strategy of waiting for a development lull to release a snapshot
as a release has seemed fine to me.

It also seems to be the case that cool new features fuels the enthusiasm
of the bugfixers.

Instead of forking off devel/stable branches, why don't we discuss and
agree on what goes into our next release, and do an intense period of
bugfixing/testing for a week or so before the release and the next
development free-for-all cycle?

For the next release, I propose:
1)  Current CVS with bugfixes
2)  Inclusion of Jan's god-intervention patch
3)  Use of Jan's god-intervention patch to finally balance religions
4)  Distribution of priest spells to balance religions
5)  Intensive testing of all recent patches
6)  Any nifty features that get done and debugged before 4) is completed.


PeterM


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      As for new features etc, I was looking throught the TODO file. I think
     
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      that it contains some very attractive ideas for future
     
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      directions/features in crossfire. However, I think some of them have
     
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      already been dealt with, such as the skills update etc, I'd love to
     
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      update the file, but I'm just not sure what's what.
     
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      Also, the TODO file contains some of the collected "past wisdom" for
     
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      things like player starting location / ressurection location that has
     
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      been discussed extensively before on the list or how objects were going
     
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      to be "redone"
     
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      Now I'm a bug fixing kind of guy myself and I'd love to hunt some down
     
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      in a relatively static tree. I think also think it would be good if
     
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      someone like Jan went through the TODO list and made some kind of
     
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      priority ranking of the new features for the next major version.
     
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      Actually what I would like is a "feature freeze" of the current CVS,
     
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      leaving it only open to bug fixes with the focus on a "stable" 0.96
     
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      Could we have another branch for 0.97 to which new features (from the
     
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      TODO list) can be added?
     
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      Johnc
     
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