On the Road to a "Production Quality" Release of the WiX v2 toolset.
If you have been keeping track of the commits to the WiX toolset lately, you'll notice that I have been cleaning up several of the small bugs that have been hanging around for a while. Also, with Justin's help tonight I think I have the strong naming issue fixed in the build. All of this work is in preparation to release a "Production Quality" version of the WiX toolset.
What does this mean for you (as a user of the WiX toolset)?
First, please download the latest drops of the WiX v2 toolset regularly for the next couple months. Only if many people are trying out the latest releases can we be confident that these last few bug fixes do not regress existing functionality.
Second, if there are issues that you believe need to be fixed, now is the time to get those bugs filed. Or if there are bugs that are currently open that you believe really need to be fixed then send the bug numbers to the wix-users mailing list. We will discuss with everyone on that mailing list what bugs should be fixed in WiX v2.
What will happen to all the bugs that don't get fixed right now?
Any bug that isn't deemed worthy of being fixed in WiX v2 will be moved into the "v3.0" Bug Group. Those bugs will obviously be fixed in the WiX v3 release of the toolset. In fact, I have already started the process of moving many bugs in to "v3.0" Bug Group. I expect a fair number more will move into "v3.0" as I continue to comb through the bug list.
How will you decide what bugs get fixed in WiX v2?
Actual code bugs in the core WiX toolset have dropped off significantly in the last few months. Many, many people have been successful with WiX v2.0.3309.0. So, the bar for accepting changes will be relatively high unless a lot of bugs show up suddenly. Essentially, we're looking to fix bugs that crash, corrupt data, or are totally blocking important scenarios without a workaround. If the bug isn't that bad then it is likely to move to WiX v3.
Why don't we just fix everything for WiX v2?
Every bug we fix has the potential of breaking something else. Also, some bugs may not be able to be fixed without affecting all users (such as schema changes). Since there is a lot of value in having a stable release that everyone can use without fear of constant breaking changes we need to strike a balance between fixes and functionality now.
Finally, the WiX v3 branch is ready to go (Derek already has some big changes in it) so we have the place to keep the momentum going while WiX v2 finishes.
What about Votive? It still needs some work, don't you think?
I talked to Justin about the state of Votive tonight. He agreed that Votive needs a number of bug fixes and small finishing features (like incremental builds working). So, I think the bar for Votive fixes will be a bit lower than the core of the WiX v2 toolset but we're going to need to focus on finishing the basic scenarios for Votive v2. Once we have a stable and functional version of Votive, Justin will start work on all the great ideas he has in Votive for WiX v3.
Again, if you have particular bugs that you think really need to be fixed, please send your list to the wix-users mailing list.
What about the CustomActions? Some of them still need some work, don't you think?
Honestly, I've been struggling with what to do about the CustomActions. K and I have discussed a number of options (from doing what we're doing now to splitting the CustomActions into a completely separate branch) but I don't like any of them yet. So, I'm looking for even more feedback on which bugs that are open (or need to be opened) really need to be fixed because there is no way to work around them. Depending on the size of that list, we'll have to make a call about what the bar for CustomActions should be and how we go forward with them.
When do you think the WiX v2 toolset will released as "Production Quality"?
I would like to spend the rest of this month discussing what bugs should be fixed. Depending on the feedback from the community we may get an RC0 out as soon as the end of this month. More likely, we'll get into early/mid-March and have a plan for which bugs are being fixed and a clearer timeline for when they'll be done. I'm not going to make any guesses right now until I see how many bugs the community thinks we need fixed.
I would like to wrap this blog entry up with another plea to all of the WiX users to please stay active in the community for the next couple months. I really want the "Production Quality" release of the WiX toolset to be of high quality and I believe we will only be successful if there is significant feedback.
Thank you.
