[Squeakfoundation]updating to next version after declining alpha

[Joshua 'Schwa' Gargus]

I originally posted this to squeak-dev, but it probably should have
been sent here.


----- Forwarded message from Joshua 'Schwa' Gargus <schwa at cc.gatech.edu> -----

Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 21:59:18 -0500
From: "Joshua 'Schwa' Gargus" <schwa at cc.gatech.edu>
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Subject: updating to next version after declining alpha
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I have a comment about Squeak version releases that may or may not
have been discussed already.  My concern relates to beginning a new
alpha branch before the previous version is finalized.  This happens
every time, and I think that it is unavoidable.  

I currently have a 3.5 beta "living" image where I keep a lot of 
important information.  I don't want to advance it to 3.6 alpha 
because I can't afford to mess it up.  So, I chose to only receive
the final fixes for the 3.5 release.  However, some day 3.6 will
be stable enough to switch to.  My problem involves the uncertainty
about being able to successfully update from a 3.5 final release 
(which may include updates after the choice about whether to go
3.5 or 3.6).  

Can we manage the update streams in such a way that we can be certain
that such updates are possible?  In most cases, it probably works fine
on its own.  However, I think that it is important for users to be 
able to rely on this invariant.

Comments?

Joshua

----- End forwarded message -----