Is there a published timeline of upcoming WTP milestones on the wiki? I can find some schedules, but not the most recent ones.
And with the next milestone build, will the XSL code be automatically built + published to the update site?
After the first milestone/release of the XSL code, then my plan is to work on the following:
- allow step-return in the debugger
- smooth transition when stepping from Java to XSLT debugging
- results view while debug in progress
- look at implementing watch expressions
and after that, there probably isn't too much to do on the debugger. Maybe I could add the ability to profile, but it might require tapping into the TPTP, which I'm not sure I want to do.
Cheers,
Doug
----- Original Message ----
From: David M Williams <david_williams@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: wtp-incubator-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, 3 January, 2008 5:23:20 PM
Subject: [wtp-incubator-dev] A note on the term "release" and our XSL Plans and milestones
I've lost track of the most recent plans and discussions, but wanted to follow up anyway with a comment on some of the discussions about "releasing" any of the XSL code.
"Release" is a special, highly technical term at Eclipse, and means some very specific things (this is actually true of other open source projects too, such as Apache).
My thought was that XSL stuff would not be _released_ until June of 2009, though in theory could be earlier, such as December of 2008 if required.
There's two crucial parts to a release that makes these long time lines best.
One is the legal stuff that has been noted already.
The other, that has not been emphasized, is an incubating project needs plenty of time for "community review".
This review includes the community of users, and the community of adopters. I think both groups are essential for this project. I know that some of you experts have "used all this before" and think it will be ready quickly, but my guess is that once under active use of more casual users, we'll get a lot of good feedback about expectations that may or may not match what we produce. My larger concern (from PMC role) is that of adopters. We need to give plenty of time for Eclipse Members to plan for us providing these tools, and for them to react,
if they want to. To site one example I happen to be familar with, I know some IBM products, that use WTP, that have non-open features that support XSL, so we'll want to get some feedback from adopters like them to make sure all is compatible, if not re-usable. And it is not an easy thing for most adopters to "squeeze in" in just a few months.
Plus, we should consider the motivations for _releasing_ the code. The main motivation, in my opinion, is specifically to declare it ready for adopters to use as product level code. That is, adopters want it and will include it in their products or service offerings. There's also the reason it makes it easier for end-users to get and use (if, for example, it's part of the normal zips and update sites) but hopefully we can make that fairly easy anyway, so that'd still leave the gating factor as "ready for product use". (As a side note, I also know of adopters who
don't care if something is in incubation, or under formal release ... they'll use it in their product in either case ... so, this is something that varies, I guess).
I'm writing this wordy note, just to sanity check ... do these long time lines seem reasonable and match your expectations? Does anyone know of an adopter who wants to use in a product at some particular, earlier point in time? (nothing confidential, as usual :)
It sounds like we all have the same intent of following the Eclipse Practice that each milestone will be "ready for end-users" so perhaps that would suffice until 2009?
Let me know if anyone has any other needs and we'll work from there.
As for milestones, I'd suggest after this first one that we (XSL) try to line up exactly with WTP milestones. It takes more
discipline, but 1) many users will expect it, and 2) you can't give feedback to WTP in time, if you have a later milestone, in the event WTP breaks XSL.
Thanks,
