[Bioperl-l] Creating PPD's from CPAN Bundles

[Chris Fields]

...
> > since we would have to rebuild the v 1.4 PPM archive and ppd files to
> deal
> > with the corresponding Bundle::Bioperl.  It's up to Nathan, really, but
> I
> > don't see the point.
> >
> Personally, I think I agree with Chris. The boundary between "stable"
> and "developer" code is somewhat fuzzy, and most posts I've seen to the
> list over the past couple of months regarding things not working were
> due to Bioperl 1.4 being installed.

It's not anyone's fault, really.  I think everyone has been so focused on
the 1.5 developer releases that the stable 1.4 release was neglected.  There
are a lot of changes in 1.5!  Anyway, this is something we should learn from
in the future with the next stable release, which should have point releases
(1.6.1, 1.6.2 etc) to fix bugs.  Any new code, API changes, and other
significant changes after 1.6 must go into the next developer release
(v1.7).  And the cycle starts anew...

...
> Should an effort be made to commit bug fixes to the 1.5.2 branch after
> it's release and make reasonably quick releases of 1.5.2.x so we don't
> end up in a similar situation with 1.5.2?

...

We shouldn't update developer point releases since the API between releases
may change (that's why they are developer releases!).  In reality, we should
be releasing these more often (3-4 months) to deal with bug fixes, etc.  I
think the idea was to have releases with experimental code released
regularly to a certain point (1.5.5), then hammering out bugs, refactoring,
and updating leading to the next stable release.  I don't think this
developer cycle will see that many more developer releases, though I could
see maybe 2-3 more before the next stable release.

I'm hoping (and I am guessing Sendu and the other developers have the same
sentiment) that the next release will hopefully get things back on track.

> > To make a short story long, the best way to resolve these issues is,
> when we
> > release v 1.6, we should have someone make regular point releases for
> core
> > to take care of bugs and other issues (non-API related, of course).  Any
> > significant changes to implementation would be on the next developer
> release
> > (v. 1.7), which should come out relatively quickly after v 1.6.  That
> way we
> > can start plotting (plodding?) our way towards v. 1.8 and beyond.
> >
> Maybe it would be safer/better to do this with the 1.5.2 release rather
> than waiting for the 1.6 release?

I think we want a few more developer releases before the next stable
release, which is tentatively planned for next summer-fall.  I think there
are a few more issues to work out which may or may not make the stable
release.  

Chris