Recent

Author Topic: Free Pascal releases  (Read 2047 times)

440bx

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4647
Free Pascal releases
« on: October 05, 2024, 08:53:40 pm »
Hello,

FPC v3.2.2, the last official release, was over 3 years ago (May 2021). 

Every now and then there is some "noise" about FPC v3.2.4 but, so far it's only been "noise".

The point I'd like to make is that, it seems it would be "nice" to have a release that did not include as many new features as originally intended but, included those features that are ready along with the v3.2.2 bug fixes. 

That way FPC users would benefit from using some of the new features and the bug fixes.

Basically, I'm suggesting a release that includes only those new features that are ready for prime time along with the current release bug fixes.

Comments welcome.


(FPC v3.0.4 and Lazarus 1.8.2) or (FPC v3.2.2 and Lazarus v3.2) on Windows 7 SP1 64bit.

Martin_fr

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 10451
  • Debugger - SynEdit - and more
    • wiki

Thaddy

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15933
  • Censorship about opinions does not belong here.
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2024, 09:04:45 pm »
It is really noise, community members being pushy.
Use main/trunk if you want to test everything new.

I support the governance that says: "it is ready when it is ready."
If I smell bad code it usually is bad code and that includes my own code.

440bx

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4647
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2024, 09:41:07 pm »
It is really noise, community members being pushy.
It's not about being pushy, it's been over three years since the last release and there are some simple features, such as decimal separators, that could have easily been part of an interim release.

I don't favor constant upgrades but, I do believe in the accumulation of small incremental improvements and I believe making those available in a formal release would be beneficial to FPC (and its users, of course.)

Lazarus shows a constant, steady improvement.  It would be very nice to see that in FPC even if at a slower pace but not 3+ years pace.

(FPC v3.0.4 and Lazarus 1.8.2) or (FPC v3.2.2 and Lazarus v3.2) on Windows 7 SP1 64bit.

dbannon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3152
    • tomboy-ng, a rewrite of the classic Tomboy
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #4 on: October 06, 2024, 04:22:33 am »
Every now and then there is some "noise" about FPC v3.2.4 but, so far it's only been "noise".
While I share your frustration, progress, as Martin pointed out, is being made.  I looked through the mailing list archive the other day and see, occasionally, a step being made. Back in March, Fixes was frozen, now a 3_2_4 branch in existence now, several mentions in between, that has to be good news.

Quote
...to have a release that did not include as many new features as originally intended...
I understand that 3.2.4 will be a bug fix. Don't expect new features until 3.4.0. However, I do not know if that is in practice the case. My use of FPC-fixes is just to get the fixes and I have not looked for new features, so, don't know.

@Thaddy, awhile ago, you had something about censorship in your signature ....

Davo

edit : typo
« Last Edit: October 06, 2024, 05:34:50 am by dbannon »
Lazarus 3, Linux (and reluctantly Win10/11, OSX Monterey)
My Project - https://github.com/tomboy-notes/tomboy-ng and my github - https://github.com/davidbannon

wfbhappy

  • New member
  • *
  • Posts: 7
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #5 on: October 06, 2024, 05:28:21 am »
fpc  + Lazarus   Mainly do write small tools, we do not have too much expectations, after all, he is a little far worse than Microsoft vs2022

440bx

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4647
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #6 on: October 06, 2024, 06:39:40 am »
@dbannon,

What you're saying is very reasonable and I basically concur.

From what I understand, there has only been one or two "problems" that have prevented the release of 3.2.4 (I could be wrong about that but, that's the impression I got from reading past forum posts.)

If that is really what has happened then, in my mind, it seems reasonable to release v3.2.4 without whatever parts are causing the problems and postponing their solutions/implementations for a later release.

I'll provide an analogy... back in school, a piece of advice every student got was, if you don't know the answer to one of the questions, move on, answer the rest of the questions you know the answer to and then revisit those that didn't get answered in the first pass.  Same reasoning for FPC releases...
(FPC v3.0.4 and Lazarus 1.8.2) or (FPC v3.2.2 and Lazarus v3.2) on Windows 7 SP1 64bit.

PascalDragon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5723
  • Compiler Developer
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2024, 09:34:22 pm »
Every now and then there is some "noise" about FPC v3.2.4 but, so far it's only been "noise".

The 3.2.4 release is in preparation phase.

The point I'd like to make is that, it seems it would be "nice" to have a release that did not include as many new features as originally intended but, included those features that are ready along with the v3.2.2 bug fixes. 

That way FPC users would benefit from using some of the new features and the bug fixes.

Making main release ready compared to the fixes branch is a totally different beast. Don't expect a new major release for another year or two.

Curt Carpenter

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 547
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2024, 09:48:48 pm »
... Don't expect a new major release for another year or two.

Thank goodness.  I'm already about eight years behind learning how to use the new stuff up to 3.2 -- much less master it.

Anybody up for a GoFundMe to pay somebody like a Marco Cantu to write a user-friendly guide to the current version of FPC/Lazarus?  ( I think that takes a different skill set than a developer's.)

440bx

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4647
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2024, 10:24:42 pm »
The 3.2.4 release is in preparation phase.
I'm afraid to ask, does that mean we'll see v3.2.4 in, say, less than 6 months ?

Making main release ready compared to the fixes branch is a totally different beast. Don't expect a new major release for another year or two.
Is it correct to presume v3.2.4 is not a main release ?

What I'm suggesting/saying here is that "formalizing" mostly bug fix releases more frequently, say maybe every year or so, may not be a bad idea.  It shows that FPC is alive.
(FPC v3.0.4 and Lazarus 1.8.2) or (FPC v3.2.2 and Lazarus v3.2) on Windows 7 SP1 64bit.

dbannon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3152
    • tomboy-ng, a rewrite of the classic Tomboy
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #10 on: October 08, 2024, 02:07:14 am »
Very obviously, I cannot speak for PascalDragon, but yes, 3.2.4 is a bug fix, nominally no new features. The Main release will be 3.4 I guess ?

One issue is here https://wiki.freepascal.org/FPC_New_Features_3.2.4   (don't bother, its empty)

I can just imagine what a task scanning over commits trying to pick out all the things that need to be listed ! I would be happy to help if I would be useful, I am sure many other forum members would be too. Hmm, there is, apparently, a maintained 'trunk' version, maybe that helps ?

https://wiki.freepascal.org/FPC_New_Features_Trunk

But overall, "doc-ing" must be a big task, the FPC devs should consider asking for help !  Similarly, we have not seen any posts urging people to test their code with the 3.2.4 branch. I do find that strange.

Davo
Lazarus 3, Linux (and reluctantly Win10/11, OSX Monterey)
My Project - https://github.com/tomboy-notes/tomboy-ng and my github - https://github.com/davidbannon

Thaddy

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 15933
  • Censorship about opinions does not belong here.
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2024, 09:59:38 am »
Very obviously, I cannot speak for PascalDragon, but yes, 3.2.4 is a bug fix, nominally no new features. The Main release will be 3.4 I guess ?
No uneven revision numbers are either fixes or trunk/main.
Releases always have even numbers, so 3.2.4 wiill be the next minor release and 3.4.0 will be the next major release. (it may even be 4.0.0 )
The versioning is documented here:
https://wiki.freepascal.org/Version_Numbering#:~:text=Lazarus%203.0%20and%20newer.%20In%20Lazarus%20version%203.0
« Last Edit: October 08, 2024, 10:04:45 am by Thaddy »
If I smell bad code it usually is bad code and that includes my own code.

Ștefan-Iulian Alecu

  • New Member
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #12 on: October 08, 2024, 10:50:36 pm »
Anybody up for a GoFundMe to pay somebody like a Marco Cantu to write a user-friendly guide to the current version of FPC/Lazarus?  ( I think that takes a different skill set than a developer's.)

Why not make it an open source effort so the community can contribute to it? And I don't think Marco will be interested (that's like getting someone from GCC to write documentation for Clang) at any rate. Also, you can already go and improve the documentation in the Free Pascal and Lazarus repos, which more people should do. It's an easy way of getting involved without getting into the guts of the compiler.

Curt Carpenter

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 547
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #13 on: October 08, 2024, 11:22:33 pm »
Why not make it an open source effort so the community can contribute to it? And I don't think Marco ...

LIKE Marco :)  There are some others I could have used as an example but I don't know if they're still around.

I worked a few times with professional technical writers, It was enough to convince me that they have a rare and special talent that most of us just don't have.  Part writing and communicating skills of course, but also special material-organizing and prioritizing skills that are truly reader-focused.  I've known some academics that have the talent too.

That said, a community effort might work, but it would I think need a leader and some incentivizing.  There is an ocean of written material out there about Pascal, FPC, and Lazarus but it lacks any sort of cohesive organization (IMHO).  Not sure how such a thing would work.

I Could be totally wrong of course.  The amount of self-motivated work the developers here put in never ceases to impress me.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2024, 12:30:35 am by Curt Carpenter »

dsiders

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1258
Re: Free Pascal releases
« Reply #14 on: October 08, 2024, 11:28:21 pm »
Why not make it an open source effort so the community can contribute to it?

Oh, like the existing documentation? How's that working out?
Preview Lazarus 3.99 documentation at: https://dsiders.gitlab.io/lazdocsnext

 

TinyPortal © 2005-2018