So, the proposal is to have the following images:

Mini
Basic
Jumbo

....perhaps we should complete the word play and refer to these images as
follows:

Minnie
Mickey
Jumbo

:)

- Stephen

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dan Ingalls [mailto:Dan.Ingalls at disney.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 1999 10:08 PM
> To: squeak at cs.uiuc.edu
> Subject: The Form of the Squeak Release [LONGISH]
>
>
> Folks -
>
> [This is really a footnote to my last message about the 2.5 release]
> For better or for worse, the form of each Squeak release is a
> platform-independent "image" (and changes and sources), along
> with a platform-specific VM and a number of optional plug-ins.
> The platform-independent image has many benefits, and we intend
> to continue with it for the foreseeable future.
>
> There is, however, at least one downside to a single image as the
> form of a Squeak release:  Either it has too much in it and it's
> hard to eliminate, or it doesn't have enough in it and it's hard
> to install.  Another is that it is a judgement call whether a
> given function should or should not be included in a given release.
>
> The purpose of this message is to summarize our current approach,
> and to consider other possible approaches in the future.
>
> VARIOUS NEEDS
> Mini
> Everything optional has been removed, but it is possible to
> develop Squeak programs and work with the OS in a convenient
> manner.  It is tuned to require minimal disk space, and a minimal
> memory footprint.  It decompiles source code, and can run in 1MB.
>  This is what the "mini" image is.
>
> Basic
> In a way, this is similar to the Minimal need, except that it is
> not intended to minimize resources, but just to minimize the
> amount of "excess baggage" in the image.  So this system would
> have full source code access, and probably network and sound
> support, but no "Play with Me" example windows, no PWS/Swiki, and
> probably no 3D or VM construction code.
>
> Jumbo
> This is everything as we have shipped it with each release so far.
>
> Other packages
> These are packages or changesets that are not part of the main
> releases, but many people might want them as much as anything
> else in the release.  Examples are ThingLab, Exception handling,
> Windoze looks, STP's music work, Bob's FMP game, etc.
>
> THE CURRENT SITUATION
> There are lots of reasons for a Jumbo release, and for making it
> be the default:
> 	* There is something cool about each thing included,
> 	* It is everything you need to go off and Squeak by yourself,
> 	* It has everything you need to download SqueakPages with
> 		music, speech, graphics, 3D -- any content made to date.
> Moreover ther are answers to most of the downsides:
> 	* Most users have big enough machines to run it,
> 	* It is simple to derive a Basic image (morphic or MVC) by closing a
> 		few windows and executing a few do-its.
>
> It is even possible to derive a Mini image from the Jumbo, but
> this is not so simple.  In fact it is fairly complicated and for
> this reason, each time I have produced a mini image (about once a
> year), I have posted it on the server for those who are interested.
>
> Our approach so far has been to stick with a single release image
> to minimize the administative overhead and the possibility of
> mistakes.  Our choice of making Jumbo be the default is driven by
> our desire that every Squeak image should be able to exhibit the
> latest media capabilities, and have access to other Squeak
> content that may appear on web pages.
>
> We do have a problem if someone wants to get a Basic Squeak, but
> they have less than 8MB of ram available so they can't start up
> the Jumbo release to make it.  Perhaps we should occasionally
> (once a year, say) post a Basic image for this kind of need, as
> we do for the mini need.
>
> MODULES
> It has been suggested that the whole system should be broken up
> into modules.  It is now possible, and in the future it should be
> easy, to install and also to unload major parts of the system as
> ImageSegments.  Obvious candidates include...
> 	VM construction
> 	PWS/Swiki
> 	Music Synthesis
> 	Music Editing
> 	Network Support
> 	Newtork apps
> 	Morphic Kernel
> 	Morphic general
> 	MVC
> 	Flash/TrueType
> 	3D
> While I worked hard to make this possible, I don't know how
> important it is.  The question is, how many people who care
> enough about space to want to remove, eg, PWS/Swiki, aren't
> satisfied with just removing it for good from that image.
> Moreover, breaking the image up into a lot of little modules
> actually makes it harder to release and harder for a newbie to
> download and understand.
>
> We do plan to continue with support for packages, with ThingLab
> as an archtypal example.  The plan is to bring nested name
> spaces, segment load/unload and segmented source code all
> together as the elements of a Squeak package.  However, it's not
> yet clear to me that this is how we want to release the system.
>
> 	- Dan
>
>
>
>