Dear Root developers,
could you please clarify the policy concerning Root 5.
From the latest news, e.g. about Root 6.04.00
I would conclude that new developments only go into Root 6.
If I overlooked something please apologize.
Cheers
Otto
Dear Otto,
That is correct, new features go into ROOT 6, while ROOT 5.34 only gets bug fixes.
It seems to me that the situation is even worse for ROOT 5.34.
The statement, that I got, is: “we are discontinuing this branch, so we will do lazy maintenance (i.e. only critical issues)”.
I don’t really think this is a good idea.
The reason is simple -> the already existing software is often incompatible with ROOT 6 and there is no easy way to fix it.
That’s why I believe ROOT 5 will still be the default version for many people for a long time (well, after all, there are still people who need/use CERNLIB libraries).
Please change the attitude towards the LAST version of ROOT 5 (i.e. 5.34) -> no introduction of new features but found bugs and problems need to be fixed (all possible, not just these considered “critical”, and this includes fixes needed by new compilers and/or libraries versions in the future).
[quote=“Wile E. Coyote”]It seems to me that the situation is even worse for ROOT 5.34.
The statement that I got is: “we are discontinuing this branch, so we will do lazy maintenance (i.e. only critical issues)”.
I don’t really think this is a good idea.[/quote]
We want to be as helpful as possible. If some fix need to be done we will do it. No problem. What will not do is systematically apply blindly any fix, or porting issues or new features to the 5.34 branch. I think is reasonable that the ROOT development team wants to reduce the maintenance load and avoid any non absolutely needed changes. Probably this could be a discussion topic at the ROOT workshop in September.
[quote=“Wile E. Coyote”]
The reason is simple -> the already existing software is often incompatible with ROOT 6 and there is no easy way to fix it.
That’s why I believe ROOT 5 will still be the default version for many people for a long time (well, there are still people who need CERNLIB libraries).[/quote]
And ROOT 5 will still be there for a long time but in a “lazy maintenance mode”. The CERNLIB has been running for many years without any maintenance.
[quote=“Wile E. Coyote”]
Please change the attitude towards the LAST version of ROOT 5 (i.e. 5.34) -> no introduction of new features but found bugs and problems need to be fixed (all possible, not just these considered “critical”, and this includes fixes needed by newer compilers and/or libraries versions).[/quote]
All depends on the definition of critical. If a bug is visible and prevents you from running then probably it is critical.
In the “v5-34-00-patches” branch:
- NO “new features” (“NO” to whatsoever), only “bug fixes”, please
- “mandatory” porting to new compilers / OS versions, please
What concerns any discussions during the workshop … how many different kinds of users will be there? I assume there will mainly be people representing big (CERN) experiments and I’m sure they can afford hiring enough manpower to switch to the newest ROOT version.
How about creating a “poll” somewhere here (the main root home page or the forum) so that any user could vote?
Some “considerations”:
[quote=“Wile E. Coyote”]In the “v5-34-00-patches” branch:
What concerns any discussions during the workshop … how many different kinds of users will be there? I assume there will mainly be people representing big (CERN) experiments and I’m sure they can afford hiring enough manpower to switch to the newest ROOT version.
[/quote]
By all means we are not limiting the kind of users. All the contrary, we would like to be have good representation.
Indeed we are preparing survey to be distributed to all users before the workshop.