Small changes, release often or Big changes, release less?

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What's a good development cycle?

Small changes, release regularly (within days/weeks)
8
80%
Lots of small changes release less (several months)
2
20%
Only once very significant changes are made
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 10

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Chris Corbyn
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Small changes, release often or Big changes, release less?

Post by Chris Corbyn »

I personally like to keep pushing out new releases of code even if the changes I've made are small. I think it's healthy to have a code base which keeps improving, providing that every time you release a new version you don't require your users to modify anything.

It seems many people think this is silly though. What do you guys see as a good development cycle?

I make new releases around once a week although I have bursts where new releases will appear every couple of days. Obviously as the code matures more and more the releases will possibly become less frequent.
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feyd
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Post by feyd »

Reguarly updated to me means there is actual active development going on... Otherwise, unless the developer says somewhere you can find, you have no idea what the status is.
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MarK (CZ)
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Post by MarK (CZ) »

Not only there's always the most recent version available but the project also looks more serious with more "life" on the site where it's published.
Definitely better to release often but sparingly, not just because of adding one more dot in the output..
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Ambush Commander
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Post by Ambush Commander »

While I agree that an actively released project is good for image, you also have to keep users in mind. If you release too often, users may still get lazy and not update (even if there's little to no risk). I like stable libraries.
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Nathaniel
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Post by Nathaniel »

Ambush brought up a good point. For an application like phpBB, I'm with the Commander: keep things stable. If I'm developing an application that will run in only one place, however, then releasing often is the best choice.
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Ambush Commander
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Post by Ambush Commander »

If I'm developing an application that will run in only one place, however, then releasing often is the best choice.
Right. If you're real crazy (like the MediaWiki developers), you'll run the code straight out of the repository with little to no lag time.
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Weirdan
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Post by Weirdan »

If you're real crazy (like the MediaWiki developers), you'll run the code straight out of the repository with little to no lag time.
Which I do as well on testing servers. I find it's easier to use WebDavFS to run the latest trunk code straight from the repository than to wait until the test pad would pick up the latest changes (never bothered to create appropriate post-commit hooks).
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Jenk
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Post by Jenk »

You can cater for both worlds with snapshots for the latest latest stuff, intermediate releases on say bi-quarterly dates, and 'official' releases for big updates - just like any major open source project tends to do.
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RobertGonzalez
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

Smaller updates, but not like everyday updates. If there are issues that need resolving in the code, then resolve the issues and post an update. If there are things that users/developers want to see in the code, develop those as time permits, then when the next update ocurrs, include it. I think too many updates kills the interest in an app ('Does the product keep changing because they haven't gotten it right, or what's the deal?').
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neophyte
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Post by neophyte »

"Release early, release often"

Yup, that pretty much sums it up.
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