- like the Linux kernel. We are in the process of switching to a
- development model similar to that used by Fetchmail where we
- will only make small stable changes between releases and
- release more often. All future releases should be stable
- although we are currently in a transition period where some
- major changes have to be introduced and are likely to affect
- the stability in the short term.
-
- These changes include:
-
- * Use of C++ Standard Library features such as the Standard
- Template Library (STL), string and streams.
-
- * Establishing the foundations of GUI/system independence,
-
- * Rearrangement of the directory structure.
-
- Once the transition is over the 1.1 series should be very
- stable and we will then release 1.2.0. This new series will be
- in a state of continual advancement. Note the word
- "advancement" and not "development." Development will be
- occurring in branches of CVS and once the feature/modification
- has proved stable it will be merged into the main releases.
-
- LyX now uses a continuous numbering scheme where odd or
- even numbering is no longer significant. Prereleases are
- labeled with a "pre" suffix and any fixes required between
- stable releases have a "fix" suffix. Thus there are three
- possible file names:
-
- lyx-1.1.5.tar.gz -- stable release
- lyx-1.1.5fix2.tar.gz -- bug fix of the 1.1.5 stable release.
- lyx-1.1.5pre1.tar.gz -- potentially unstable test release
-
- The fix releases contain no new functionality; only fixes that
- have already made their way into the cvs repository.
+ like the Linux kernel. The idea was to to switch to a
+ development model similar to that used by Fetchmail where
+ we would make only small stable changes between releases
+ and release more often. This lead to the 1.1.x series of LyX
+ releases during which the inhards of the program were rewritten
+ to make use of the C++ Standard Library features, establish
+ the foundations of GUI/system independence, and generally
+ clean up the data structures used in the core of LyX.
+
+ As of April 2002, this transition phase is completed and we
+ feel it is time to switch to (yet) another version scheme.
+ This new series will be in a state of continual advancement.
+ Note the word "advancement" and not "development." Development
+ will be occurring in branches of CVS and once the
+ feature/modification has proved stable it will be merged into
+ the main releases.
+
+ LyX still uses a continuous numbering scheme in which odd or
+ even numbering is not significant. Instead a number '1.x.y'
+ indicates stable release '1.x', fix level 'y'. Prereleases
+ are labeled with a "pre" suffix. Thus there are three possible
+ file names:
+
+ lyx-1.2.0.tar.gz -- stable release
+ lyx-1.2.2.tar.gz -- second maintenance release of the
+ 1.2.0 stable release
+ lyx-1.2.0pre1.tar.gz -- potentially unstable test release
+
+ The maintenance releases are designed primarily to fix bugs. The
+ goal here is not to have parallel development as for the linux
+ kernel (the team is too small to afford that), but rather to
+ include all the simple (so that the maintenance burden on us
+ is not too high) and safe (so that system administrators can
+ install them without fear) bug fixes. Experience shows that
+ these releases will contain a few new features, and that the
+ bulk of the patches will be documentation updates.