Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!rochester!kodak!elmgate!jdg From: jdg@elmgate.UUCP (Jeff Gortatowsky) Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga Subject: waning enthusiasism for 1.2 Message-ID: <468@elmgate.UUCP> Date: Mon, 9-Jun-86 07:54:51 EDT Article-I.D.: elmgate.468 Posted: Mon Jun 9 07:54:51 1986 Date-Received: Thu, 12-Jun-86 00:14:21 EDT Organization: Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, NY Lines: 54 Keywords: 1.2 ROM Kickstart beta kernal bugs I got around to playing with 1.2 beta this weekend. All the playing I did was at a "user" level. Meaning I haven't even begun to program with the 1.2 fixes and enhancements. The report from my experiance isn't looking good. If C-A is planning on releasing 1.2 *NEARLY* bug free, don't expect to see the release anytime soon. My list of bugs is 2 pages long and growing. As I said, I haven't even begun to program in it yet. The workbench in 1.1 WAS fairly reliable. At least in my experiance. Ah-hem, it ain't so in 1.2b2. Now I don't know if CBM-Amiga wants developers airing dirty laundry out in public so I'll keep this non-specific for the moment. The workbench's error recovery and window refreshing is damaged. The notepad has numerous problems making it a risky item to use. I certainly wouldn't trust my bugs notes to it! What happen? My guess is, like in my own programs, too many fixes were installed all at once. In my own code, after 3 or patches to the same routine the code becomes so different from what I originally had intended that I can't follow it or fix it any further. Time to scrap that routine and rewrite it. C-A better do the same (I suspect). It's not that I don't expect bugs in a beta release. However the bugs I'm finding are *MAJOR* items that worked before (ie. workbench windows). The idea behind a new minor release (1.x to 1.x+1) is to fix documented stuff that didn't work in the previous release and hone everything else. Unfortunatly 1.2 is more like the 1.0 major release (at least so far as I've explored it) in that it is frustrating to work with due to all the simple (simple to the 'user', not the programmer) things that seemingly don't work. OK guys.... I KNOW kickstart is a very complex hunk (hunks) of code. I know it's easy to sit here on my SUN and fire away at you. The question is what to do about it? With as many bugs cropping up in things that just the user is going to use you can't possibly (can you) be considering releasing 1.2 anytime soon. You kill the machine (ie frustrate the user). I suggest you might try releasing 1.11. In it keep the paths, expansion stuff, and disk caching. Beyond that start doing what I do when routines start getting outta hand. Break 'em apart and rewrite incorporating the patches from the start. Beyond that you *might* (just a suggestion) want to hire a couple of those guys back at least as part time consultants. It's gonna take some effort (I think) to clean 1.2 up before a real release. Sorry to be so long winded, but I'm concerned. Things are supposed to be getting better not worse. I haven't even started compiling old/new code. Maybe that'll go better. Oh yes, the bug reports will go out Wednesday. I've gotta run off copies (many) and type 'em up. Later..... -- Jeff Gortatowsky {allegra,seismo}!rochester!kodak!elmgate!jdg Eastman Kodak Company