Reason for doing this: there has not been an official release of REBOL/View in many
years. This has resulted in:
New users who download and try REBOL experience bugs and problems that have been
fixed (some of them for many years). There are also many new and useful features
that they don't get. The result gives them a poor impression of REBOL.
Existing developers cannot build products that rely on newer changes because
there is no official release of those changes.
Just to improve the overall health and participation of the REBOL community. Various unsuccessful attempts at this release have failed, resulting in a negative overall effect on the REBOL community.
2. Timeline
Immediately. Meaning: within the next couple weeks if at all possible.
We do not want to turn this into another long-term failed project. It is critical
that we can achieve this release ASAP.
3. Features
The features of this release would include what has already been done,
or what can be done in just a few more days of work. Here is a list,
to start the discussion. This list may or may not be complete. Please
take some time to think about it (but not too much time!)
Bug fixes: Includes all the bug fixes made over the last few
years to this version branch. This is the main point of the release.
Alpha fixes: We could merge back any small but critical fixes
that were in the async version that have not been applied to the earlier
versions. We need to determine what these are.
AGG DRAW: It is possible to include the AGG DRAW, under one
condition: we would need to remove the text font features that make AGG
none-portable to other platforms. Adding DRAW would make many developers
happy, because there are enough improvements even without the font text
changes. We do not have enough time add other font rendering systems.
OSX: This release will include support for OSX, since the
current OSX build is based on this version (not on the async kernel).
VID and styles: We must make VID the changes and fixes are the most
critical for this release. Many of these have been done by individual
developers, but need to be applied to the actual release. It will take a
coordinated effort from everyone to make sure that useful changes are
made in time. This also includes fixes to problems related to REQUEST
functions (and modal window fixes).
Public Directory: We need to properly locate the public
directory that gets created each time you run REBOL/View. The options
may include locating it in the user's profile directories (if the user
did not specify another location on install).
Installer: The installer has been removed for the beta releases,
but must be added back for final release.
Viewtop: There are a few minor bugs and problems in the view
desktop. Some of these may have been fixed by developers, but have not
been integrated into the current source code.
It is quite possible I missed something that should be on this list.
Please contact me immediately on HQ world to let me know.
4. Documentation
It is important for the documentation to be updated with information for
this release. It would be very helpful if someone could suggest a
plan for what docs wwe need and how we can make them happen.
5. Issues
The following issues need to be solved:
Version: What version should this be called. Choices are 1.3.0 or
2.5.8. The advantage of the second is that it achieves an objective that
I've wanted for a long time: to keep all REBOL versions in sync.
