While we wait for 7.1, how about a 7.0.1 to keep us going?

Profesize posted 27th of February 2010 in Community Voice. 12 comments.

Hello Boonexers

 

After receiving so many emails from my members about the same issues such as "Why does my profile say I am a year older?" or "Why can't I promote or demote or remove anyone in my event?" and having to say "Sorry, its another bug in the software and we are waiting on a fix from the developers" about a zillion times, I have resorted to inserting HTML blocks that tell them that its a bug so as to try and cut down on the many emails I am constantly receiving.

 

OK. Dolphin is a great product and I have finally reached a point where most things are working ok but there are still so many issues that are affecting the fluidity of my site and I am sure many other Unity members' sites too.

 

Everyone keeps asking for the release of D7.1 for which we are still waiting and probably will be waiting for a while still as you incorporate the fixes and any new developments you have planned.

 

Well how about a release of D7.0.1 to fix up the list of bugs that are plagueing all our sites? Just a small patch to keep everyone happy for the moment.

 

Pretty please?

 
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prolaznik
prolaznik•27th of February 2010
 
d7.0.1 are you joking boonex will release a beta 7.1 after that comes 7.1 and you want 7.0.1 common that would slow down the 7.1
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Profesize
Profesize•27th of February 2010
 
Hi Prolaznik. Whether its 7.0.1, 7.1 beta or just 7.1, all I am saying is that it would not be difficult for them to release a small patch to fix the blatantly obvious bugs that make our sites seem unprofessional.

If I could fix it myself then I wouldn't be asking for these obvious bugs to be fixed through the release of a small patch that would keep our members content.

At the end of the day, my members come first and when they ask for something that will make the site run more smoothly then see more I do the best I can to provide it.

I understand that Boonex would like us to be happy too (he says with a glimmer of hope) and would simply like to know how to fix these annoying bugs. I can understand and appreciate that some members are able to wait for 7.1 as their sites are not at a level where the need is so great. However, there are many unity members in desperate need of a patch and if Boonex have the answer on how to fix these issues, then I honestly do not see how providing us with the information we so need would slow anything down.

:)
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Nathan Paton
Nathan Paton•27th of February 2010
 
BoonEx has two current development plans for Dolphin 7:

Dolphin 7.0.1: a bug-fix release
Dolphin 7.1.0: a bug-fix and small feature inclusion release

Of course, Dolphin 7.0.1 will be the first to come out, and tickets are constantly being filed and closed, which you can see for yourself by visiting the Trac.

Fortunately, you need not wait for the release, and can grab the needed fixes individually from their appropriate tickets. Typically, tickets which are resolved will be updated with see more the revision, which is a logged snap-shot of the files changed, which will allow you to download the necessary and appropriate files. If you cannot find the revision in the ticket, you can always find the change by searching for the ticket identification number, which develops will use when commenting on updates to the trunk.

Dolphin is a system with a long history of do-it-yourself and other unofficial/early fixes. Numerous people here have accepted this practice, and have been regularly adding fixes from the development trunk, including myself. I would suggest you do the same, or continue having to tell your members that the official release with the needed fixes will only come "whenever the hell the developers feel like it."
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CALTRADE
CALTRADE•27th of February 2010
 
@Magnussoft - that can be a real pain - it is nice to have an official version numbered release- if nothing else, it puts us all on the same page on the forums and when we need technical support.

Profesize makes a good point also about the "name" of the release - it really doesn't matter what they call it - our users will never know, and we just care about the bugs fixed and the features added. My main thing not is I would just like to know when. If there are going to have a new see more release in a few days, would you do any mods today? - probably not. On the other hand, if the next release is not for another three months, you might very well do some mods and deal with the "configuration control" issues this creates later. Right now, we have no idea - will minor release happen every few months? - quarterly? twice yearly? I have no idea. For some reason, Boonex has never wanted to release this information, even though it costs them nothing and helps the user community here.
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Nathan Paton
Nathan Paton•27th of February 2010
 
@CALTRADE: it is a pain, but it's really the only other option besides waiting like a deer in the headlights.

BoonEx doesn't give out their actual release schedule because they do not know when they will actually release anything. I honestly thought people realized that by now, but it would appear that some still haven't.
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CALTRADE
CALTRADE•27th of February 2010
 
@Magnisoft - There would be another option if Boonex gave us at least a general idea. How can you say they don't know when they are going to release something? - they must have some clue - the software doesn't just get released all by itself.
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Nathan Paton
Nathan Paton•27th of February 2010
 
@CALTRADE: I actually thought you of all people realized that BoonEx had no actual release date, and that it seemed more spontaneous than appropriate. They must have some idea on when they will release something, but something tells me even they can't meet those deadlines.
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mishka
mishka•27th of February 2010
 
I do use the Trac, and have already updated many of the fixes. It is 'a pain', sure...but the benefit makes the effort worth it when the issue is important. I wish there was a more organized way to know what was in the Trac, to know which of the 'changesets' I should apply. I have only found ones by searching for specific issues I had, and by going down the timeline and looking for things that 'seemed' important to fix. I guess the best way would be to simply follow along, every day, and apply every see more single changeset! But I have not had that kind of time, and have not tried that, so I don't know if that's even possible. But maybe I should, because when 7.0.1 comes out, I won't just be able to drag over the new folders, because I have already done a lot of fixes, and a couple of them as mods, mods which were not extensions but fixes for things Boonex hasn't created a ticket or changeset for, but which were vital and basic things that should have been included in a 'stable' release. So whether I do it in real time, or all at once when 7.0.1 comes out, I will be going file by file and comparing code. If 7.0.1 is merely a collection of the changesets/timeline, then just doing the fixes as they come along would be fine...I don't know if that release would have 'other' things in it, but if so, they had better clearly explain which things are 'in addition to' the Trac changes.
As far as being frustrated or mad...yeah, of course...sometimes I think time is being spent on fixing smaller issues when critical ones are not fixed immediately (like CCBill support - HELLO!!!??)...but I know that there are always two sides to every story.
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DeeEmm
DeeEmm•28th of February 2010
 
I personally think that there are too many tasks in Trac for the next release, they should be split up into separate versions. Currently releases are feature driven, which means that you will not see anything until all those Trac tickets are closed, and at the moment there's still 131 active (only 3 have been closed). Instead, I think that releases should be driven by a release cycle - quarterly is good - monthly better (depending on resources of course) - add a realistic amount of tickets to each see more planned release, allowing time for bugfixes and testing, and then stick to it. This means that the release is planned out before anyone even starts working on it.

Currently Trac is not being utilised correctly. As with any project management tool, goals need to be realistic, and putting ALL of the tasks into one release (7.1) means that Trac is little more than one giant 'things to do list'. As I mentioned previously in another post, a decent road map is needed - this means mapping out the next years releases, with a realistic schedule, and splitting these tasks up between the releases, this also means that the tasks have to be prioritised. All of this is standard project management stuff, and my guess is that coders are driving trac, not managers.

The worst part of planning releases is that some features will get pushed way out, which will upset some of the users, but after everyone gets used to having a regular release, and can see when their particular feature / ticket is due to be addressed, things will settle down. Also, if management make a faux par by pushing X feature out into the 1st quarter 2011, everyone will soon let them know.
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DeeEmm
DeeEmm•28th of February 2010
 
It is also worth while pointing out, that there is still a parallel development for Dolphin 8, which is, again as big a change from 7 as it was from 6. To me, this means that none of these products ever reach maturity. It's only ever at product maturity that tickets reduce, and features are finally finished. Remember, maturity = stability.

If Dolphin 8 is a different product, then keep it this way, when the time comes, release it as Trident, not Dolphin. Maintain development of 7 as it is, and see more give it legacy support (which is not happening with D6). This means that you will end up with a mature product, and a new product, both good for business. Additionally, by calling these products by the same name, there is an expectation that there is a direct upgrade path, and as can be seen from D6-D7, this has not worked 100%. If the products are named differently, then peoples expectations are not as high. Of course, this is all related to marketing strategy, and your model may be different, but I see the same disappointments being voiced over every release.

Things have come a long way, but there is still some ground to travel.
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AlexT
AlexT•28th of February 2010
 
7.0.1 is coming soon, just keep an eye on trac to see when it will be some small number of tickets here:
http://www.boonex.com/trac/dolphin/query?status=new&status=assigned&status=reopened&milestone=7.0.1
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bigal0228•6th of March 2010
 
was hoping to see 7.0.1.a.01.aaa.000.01 first
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