[Cuis-dev] [Important] Additional packages for Stable (LTS) releases (was Re: Re : Re: Beta for Cuis 7.0 stable, Rolling Release is 7.1)

[Juan Vuletich]

Hi Hilaire, Folks,

On 5/21/2024 6:43 AM, H. Fernandes via Cuis-dev wrote:
> Maybe there is something to learn from what does the Debian community.
> Capturing the state of those packages when a new stable release comes out.
>
> Dr. Geo -- http://gnu.org/s/dr-geo

Agreed. Actually, that's what we are already doing, but only for 
packages that are in the Cuis-Smalltalk-Dev repository, and are well 
maintained and routinely used.

We need a repo layout to expand this to package not part of the 
Cuis-Smalltalk-Dev repository. True. We will do this.

But I think it is more important to find out which '3rd party' packages 
we want (and are able to!) support for a stable release. Stable releases 
are meant to be high quality, and users expect them to work for a long 
time. They are "LTS" releases (Long Term Support). We can only include 
packages we know are in good shape, and someone has committed to provide 
support for them as part of the stable release. We haven't been explicit 
about this before, basically because I'll be doing that for the packages 
in the Cuis7-0 repository. But I can't do that for packages I don't use 
and don't know too much about how they work.

The next step needs to be to identify those packages. I know, (this is 
just an example), that GeographicInformationSystems is cool. But I 
haven't used it in quite some time. So unless someone else has, it 
doesn't qualify as "well maintained and routinely used". Obviously, if 
there is some project actually using it, the situation is completely 
different. So we need that list of packages to work on.

I took a not-too-old DrGeo image I had on my machine, and looked at the 
packages it has loaded. Hilaire please correct me if this is wrong or 
incomplete. Some of these packages are already in the Cuis7-0 repo. 
Others are specific to DrGeo. I'm not listing any of them in what follows.

Many packages are in other (3rd party) repos in the Cuis-Smalltalk 
organization. So, these are the repos / packages we need to work on:
- Numerics / 'LinearAlgebra'
- SVG / 'SVG'
- Parsers / 'PetitParser'
- Erudite /
     'PetitParserBinding'
     'Erudite'
- Cuis-Smalltalk-UI /
     'UI-Click-Select'
     'UI-Core'
     'UI-Entry'
     'UI-Panel'
     'UI-Preference'
     'UI-Widgets'

I'll support Numerics / 'LinearAlgebra' and SVG / 'SVG' under the repo 
structure we decide for "3rd party packages for Cuis Stable Releases". I 
think they are mature and stable, and haven't had issues in a long time.

So, Hilaire and Ken, do you think that the Cuis-Smalltalk-UI packages 
are stable enough to be in a stable release with long term support? If 
needed, will you give support for them, not only for the current Rolling 
Release, but also for Stable Releases? These will be different package 
files, and most likely on separate repos.

Mariano, do you think PetitParser and Erudite are stable enough to be in 
a stable release with long term support? If needed, will you give 
support for them, not only for the current Rolling Release, but also for 
Stable Releases? These will be different package files, and most likely 
on separate repos.

I apologize for asking bluntly, but we need to be confident, before 
stamping "LongTermSupport'd" on any packages.

We can also do the same for the packages listed by Ken. In particular I 
think that Numerics, Cuis-Smalltalk-Regex, Measures and Calendars are 
pretty solid. Not really sure about Database-Support, 
GeographicInformationSystems, StyledTextEditor, Cuis-Smalltalk-Tools, 
but if anyone volunteers to say they are stable enough, and to support 
them for Stable Releases if needed, they could be included too. Same 
goes for any other packages not listed yet (feel free to answer with 
additional suggestions, especially if you use them and volunteer to take 
care of them).

Thanks!

> ----- ken.dickey--- via Cuis-dev<cuis-dev at lists.cuis.st> a écrit :
>> On 2024-05-20 12:25, Juan Vuletich via Cuis-dev wrote:
>> ..
>>> I think it is important to start by selecting the list of packages we
>>> want to be available for stable releases. For these, we'd also be
>>> ready to commit ourselves to their quality.
>> Hmmm.. Perhaps:
>>
>> Cuis-Smalltalk-UI
>> Numerics
>> Database-Support
>> Cuis-Smalltalk-Regex
>> Measures
>> Calendars
>> ? GeographicInformationSystems
>> ? Parsers
>> ? StyledTextEditor
>> ? Cuis-Smalltalk-Tools
>> ? Erudite
>>
>> -KenD
>> -- 
>> Cuis-dev mailing list
>> Cuis-dev at lists.cuis.st
>> https://lists.cuis.st/mailman/listinfo/cuis-dev
-- 
Juan Vuletich
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