[bt-devel] Time to release alpha? (Re: Windows build system)

[Eeli Kaikkonen]

Many issues have been solved at least partially. Gary seems to have 
fixed a Windows crash, which is very important. BT accepts png icons. 
The BT c++ source code needs probably only one small patch (stricmp in 
two files).

Is it possible to create another Windows installer? If the fixes work we 
can test it and soon release alpha1 officially.

I would like to call it 2.0alpha1. This porting work needs to be 
celebrated and BibleTime earns a greater number than 1.7 or 1.8. Couple 
of weeks ago I thought that the Windows port would take at least half a 
year. Now it seems to be closer than one month away. That's amazing.

I want to call it alpha because we have made major changes since 1.7. 
Though it's not much codewise it's a large step to change the underlying 
library for the display engine and other parts. We should be as careful 
as we have been with 1.7 line and not call it final until it's tested 
extensively. Also I don't want to make the mistake of being too excited 
and publish the Windows port as final before it has really been tested. 
The Xiphos folks published with short testing period and one www 
reviewer couldn't even start the program. I can take part to the 
developers' disappointment.

The alpha period will be short. After one or two alphas we can release a 
beta and soon the final. There's no need for several months cycle this 
time, but I still want to use more than couple of days for alphas and betas.


--Eeli Kaikkonen