[development] Module developers, please do *proper* releases !

[Dries Buytaert]

On Mon, Feb 18, 2008 at 5:49 PM, Earl Miles <merlin at logrus.com> wrote:
> Ashraf Amayreh wrote:
>  > Sometime I think this should become a requirement rather than something
>  > optional, all current dev releases could be promoted to a first release
>  > and new dev releases banned.
>
>  No, because during active development it is really convenient to have
>  the -dev releases available.
>
>  I agree that it is inconvenient that sloppy module maintainers do not
>  create releases. However, this is my philosophy:
>
>  If the maintainer of the module is sloppy enough as to not be able to
>  provide proper releases, despite the existence of a good release
>  mechanism, then I have little reason to trust that module developer's code.
>
>  i.e, I think people simply should not use these modules.

While I agree with this statement, it might be a bit
developer-centric.  As a developer, you can assess the quality of a
module based on these things, but it might be less obvious for normal
users.  After all, they are not used to seeing 'developer releases' on
download pages (i.e. the mozilla download page).  In fact, they might
not understand the term 'developer release' to begin with.
Communicating the quality and readiness of a module in simple terms is
important. Communicating the quality of a module does not require us
to impose rules on developers; it's mostly a UI thing and some backend
work.  So while I agree with what you said, keep wearing your end-user
hat. :)

-- 
Dries Buytaert :: http://buytaert.net/