Re: new releases [was Re: Official public code repository]

[Tim Kelly <gtkelly@...>]

Roberto wrote:

> I guess there is a difference in scale. The last version of Lua is
> less than 2 years old. This is the timescale I am talking about. If
> you do not see a new release of Lua in the next 20 years than you
> should worry.

But do I have to worry that in five years the group at PUC-Rio will tire of Lua and move on to other projects, leaving me looking around for developers with their patched versions of Lua?  (Universities are notorious for their "what have you done for me lately" attitude, so new research and directions is a given, but can come at the expense of maintainence of existing research projects.)

> Anyway, what is the use of knowning that language X will be here
> in 10 years, without knowing what language X will be in 10 years?

Sure, but Lua is more than a language, isn't it?  "C" is a language, but has multiple compilers.  I don't have to worry about the C language going away, although my choice of compiler may change.  Since Lua doesn't run natively (object code), there's a piece that has to exist that is dependent on Lua as a whole.  

What I'm trying to say is that beyond that advantages of using Lua for development, how do I convince myself and prospective clients that basing a solution on Lua is not risking their investment, when compared to the "permanence" of PHP and Perl?  That's the roadmap I was trying to ask for earlier, a realistic guide that shows Lua has "official support" five years out and how that will be accomplished.

Consider your own statement:
(2) we do not think it is a good idea to build a new
release for every bug found, so we wait for more bugs.

As far as I can tell, there's no (anonymous read-only) CVS repository to get an officially patched version of Lua (I'm happy to be corrected).  That introduces a period of where bugs have been fixed but no releases include them, and I have seen projects terminate in that very state.  

Also consider the FAQ page:

1.3 - When is the next version due?
Lua 5.1 was released on 21 Feb 2006; a bug-fix release (5.1.2) was made in 02 Apr 2007.

Work on Lua 5.2 has begun but there is no roadmap yet and no release date has been fixed; there aren't even any work versions yet.


1.4 - What changes will the next version bring?
 No roadmap exists for Lua 5.2 yet.

 If you're concerned with incompatibilities, you shouldn't, because we make every effort to avoid introducing any incompatibilities. When incompatibilities are unavoidable, previous code is usually supported unmodified, possibly by building Lua with a suitable compilation flag. In any case, the reference manual contains a list of incompatibilities.


I am aware of the long history of Lua, and I mean no disrespect, but those are not reassuring statements, not to MBA types.  

sincerely,
tim
--

"Anything war can do, peace can do better."  --  Desmond Tutu