[Zope] How stable is the 2.0 alpha release?

Michel Pelletier michel@digicool.com
Wed, 16 Jun 1999 11:12:33 -0400


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alexander Staubo [mailto:alex@mop.no]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 1999 11:00 AM
> To: Zope Mailing List (E-mail)
> Subject: RE: [Zope] How stable is the 2.0 alpha release?
> 
> 
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Michel Pelletier [mailto:michel@digicool.com]
> >Sent: 16. juni 1999 16:12
> >To: 'Alexander Staubo'; Zope Mailing List (E-mail)
> >Subject: RE: [Zope] How stable is the 2.0 alpha release?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Alexander Staubo [mailto:alex@mop.no]
> >> Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 1999 9:13 PM
> >> To: Zope Mailing List (E-mail)
> >> Subject: [Zope] How stable is the 2.0 alpha release?
> >>
> >>
> >
> >*Seems* stable to me.
> >
> >It may be very stable.  You may setup a vast production site with it.
> >You may find a very excellent bug that may trash all your work.
> >
> >If it makes you feel any better, we'll fix the bug if it's there. ;)
> 
> Great, what about all the things mentioned in the 2.0.0a1 
> release notes?
> Release notes mention that alpha 2 "will be released in the 
> week of May
> 26," which obviously did not happen. Are you behind schedule?
> 

This is my personal opinion, as I don't do any 'scheduling', but I think
that scheduling software releases in general is a Microsoftian mistake;
it's done and ready when it's done and ready.  I may be getting myself
in trouble here, as the official company policy may differ.  I do know
that we have been fulfilling several customer requirements lately that
were somewhat unexpected, and, of course, we can't turn down a good
money making job on the excuse that it will take time away from our free
product.  We spend most of our time working on Zope, but we have to
spread the time around for the people who want to give us money too.

We are also working on alot of non Zope core products, like Catalog,
Portal Tool Kit, and Tracker.  All in good time.  Zope is cool, and it
will get much, *much* cooler.

> The alpha 1 todo list is relatively serious, eg., "Most database
> adapters are likely to be problematic [...] when running Zope 2 with
> multiple threads" -- eek! Which ones are subject this to this problem?
> 

Probably all of them except for the ones we write (which will be made
thread safe).  The problem is that most of the python libaries (which we
didn't write) that the DAs (most of which we didn't write either) are
written against (and in some situations the DAs themselves) are not
threadsafe.  This is a problem that is *way* beyond our control, but
we'll probably try and fix it anyways cuz we're nice guys.

> I could not find documentation on compatibility issues with ZODB2,
> either (probably covered on this list at some point; would you care to
> repeat?), ie. can I just copy by data.bbb into the alpha version?

Yes, 2.0 alpha will work fine with an existing Database *if* you run it
in ZODB2 mode (no concurrency).  If you run it in ZODB3 mode (the
default) your Data.bbb file will not even be used, rather, a different
file called Data.fs (fs = File Storage, remember, ZODB3 can use multiple
backend stores) will be used.  Data.fs and Data.bbb are two different
formats, and are incompatable.  Real Soon Now we will have a conversion
script to upgrade from Data.bbb format to Data.fs format, but I for one,
will promise no date.

> 
> Do you recommend updating the sources from the public CVS after
> installing alpha 1?

I recommend for the non developer interested in kicking the alpha tires
to follow the release schedule, ie alpha 1, alpha 2, alpha n, beta 1,
beta, n...final.  If you are a developer type, and you like to get
bleeding edge bug fixes, then I recommend you update against the CVS
daily, and subscribe to the zope-checkins mailing list, which gives you
a blow by blow description of CVS checkins done.

http://www.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-checkins

-Michel

-Michel

> 
> >-Michel
> >
> >> --
> >> Alexander Staubo             http://www.mop.no/~alex/
> >> "`This must be Thursday,' said Arthur to himself, sinking low over
> >> his beer, `I never could get the hang of Thursdays.'"
> >> --Douglas Adams, _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >
> 
> 
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