On Fri, 2012-11-30 at 07:31 +0100, Rob T wrote: > One quick suggestion before I call it a day, is for there to be > an "experimental branch" for the great minds behind D to play > around with (eg UDA's etc). We probably don't want experimental > stuff going directly into a branch that is destined for stable. > Unstable should be for items that are relatively finalized in > terms of design and agreement that the concept is to be > eventually incorporated into stable, i.e., moving a new feature > into unstable starts the refinement process towards a stable > release of that feature.
Totally agreed. In the development branch only already finalized things should be merged. Having official experimental branch(es) is a good idea. I think the things people are working on should be easily accessible. So other people can contribute and test the stuff. These branches should then also be included in dpaste.dzfl.pl. Maybe a dmd-experimental project, where people can get access to, very easily. So they can push their branches there. It should be as easy for people to try out experimental things as to try out things from the development branch, to get as much early testing as possible. Automatic creation of binary releases would also be cool. So the workflow could be something like: 1. Document on a dedicated wiki page that you start working on feature X or bug fix Y. 2. Get started on a private/semipublic feature branch. 3. As soon as you got something push it to dmd-experimental 4. Continue to work and improve things there 5. Experimental branches are considered for inclusion in devel. 6. Things are tested in an integrated way in devel, with binary releases every two months or so. (Much like we have now) 7. At predefined intervals you branch of a release branch and stabilize things further. 8. Release branch is merged in dmd-stable/master Someone posted this, as why not to use feature branches: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzstASOvqNc&feature=youtu.be I personally don't think that feature branches are the problem, but more a lack of communication. If people work on the same stuff you get merge conflicts, that is granted, so you should know on what people are working before starting to work. A wiki page where you add a link to your feature branch and what you are currently working on and dmd-experimental could help in this regard.
