Regular PixelLight SDK release

[COfenberg]

As you might have noticed, this time we did not manage the "all two month on the 23'th"-release.

In case a release within the next weeks is desired, it would definitely be a maintenance release because over the last two month there were primarily bugfixes and completion changes made. Is there need for such a regular PixelLight SDK release?

[gavlig]

I'd say you can make it like rolling-release. Adding new features/fixing bugs constantly without anchoring to "two month release" and just making a small weakly report about it.

[icefire]

I think a constant release of the SDK as a rolling-release is to much of a hassle because you must re-release and manage the SDK builds all the time.
A one or two month release of an SDK is OK by most standards, this also gives the developers more time to test added features more thoroughly.
For those that want to be constantly up to date (rolling-release) you can just pull the git whenever they want.

What i do wanna see happening more is community member releasing small examples / plugins to the public repository on GitHub.
Even small examples like scenes, materials, animations, plugins, features and proof of concepts add to the whole project and also let new members learn more and faster.
For those who want to share to the repository just be sure to have a GitHub account and let me or COfenberg know.

[COfenberg]

Years ago, we had automatic nightly builds. Something like this would be cool, but at least I have no time in order to setup something like this and then maintain it.

Every release involves a lot of additional work. I use several tools for static code analysis, making spell checks and of course building PixelLight across many platforms over and over again and checking those builds for obvious issues. Writing release notes and then publishing it is the smallest part of a release. .

So, a two month release interval was already quite some effort for a single person to accomplish. Maybe we can share some of the work in the future, meaning that a release is announced in the forum and then several people build and test the current Git repository version and reporting back any found issues as well as reviewing the release news.


@icefire
I agree that it would be fantastic if there would be more activity from the community side. For instance at GitHub and the PixelLight Wiki. I assume that when more people are getting active, this will motivate the rest of the developers.


In general, spreading the word about PixelLight might also help. It appears that PL is still quite unknown and as for me, I did everything I can to make it known by posting PL release notes around the net, making from time to time image of the day posts - without starting to spam around (which we certainly should not do).

[KrystalRe]

I think it's already seen from the results that the release is needed.

[COfenberg]

I think it's already seen from the results that the release is needed.

The question how to organize the releases remains.

Until now, I decided everything release related on my own. Stuff like whether or not the quality is sufficient for a release. I am not sure whether or not it's wise to continue with this Rambo-approach.

It would be nice if we could manage the releases all together. Meaning deciding which features are a must have for the next version, which bugs have to be fixed in which order, testing everything on all supported platforms together, formulating release news and so on. By this, making releases a matter of collaboration instead of letting one single person controlling everything.

I assume the current progress would be sufficient to justify another release, but more testing by different people would be a good idea.

[aikidos]

My first project on PL wait release new version engine

Spoiler:

[icefire]

How close are you to releasing your project?

[aikidos]

How close are you to releasing your project?

My project be the very simple game. Just mazy with horror elements. I think when i get new PL version with Motion Blur and ect. i public beta version my project.

[COfenberg]

Are there any immediate bugs within the latest Git repository version which have to be fixed for PL 0.12?

[icefire]

I have not yet come across any.

[aikidos]

Are there any immediate bugs within the latest Git repository version which have to be fixed for PL 0.12?

I cant remember why i wait new version

[COfenberg]

Maybe I find the time (currently refreshing my basic renderer API knowledge) to make a new release at the end of next week (in case no one else want's to make the release . Would be nice if several persons would be willing to compile the current Git version of PixelLight on different platforms so that we can see if there are any undetected issues.

[gavlig]

i'll try on archlinux x86_64

[COfenberg]

i'll try on archlinux x86_64

Would be cool. I saw that thewolfwillcome also tested it with Clang. It really helps when several people compile it on multiple platforms using multiple compilers.

Currently I plan to create for the next release only an SDK for MS Windows. It's getting to much work for me to also do the Linux release. So, if someone is willing to take over the Linux SDK release this would be fantastic. In this case, it would probably be also a good idea to review this Linux SDK and improve it if required.