Mrinal --
...and then Mrinal Kalakrishnan said...
% Hi,
Hi!
%
% Gero Treuner typed:
% > Not exactly. There are development-only (non-BETA) versions, as
% > 1.1 through 1.1.5 are.
%
% OK, I didn't know that. I just labelled all versions that are not the
% stable release as `beta'.
Not a bad assumption, except with such amazingly functional and stable
"beta" code as mutt. It's been beta, as I recall, since the 0.9 days,
and was very usable as alpha in the 0.8 days (when I joined up).
%
% But what is the essential difference between the non-beta and the beta
% versions? I mean, both categories are available for people to try out
% aren't they?
They are, and that's been the philosophy of mutt (as I understand it,
anyway) all along. Since "[a]ll mail clients suck", it's important to
get The Right Tool out to folks as much and as quickly as possible -- so
the code was available early on. Since things which outright break the
program rarely (again, as I understand) make it into the CVS tree, you
can check out a pretty working version even if part of it is someone's
work in progress. Only when such tinkering is "finished" (a very
qualified term!) might that release go on to be considered beta.
I suppose the biggest difference would be that the developer would
respond to trouble reports on non-beta versions as "Yeah, I know; I
haven't finished that piece of code and it's supposed to break" instead
of in the usual great and supportive manner.
There; I guess I just said thanks to all of the developers for helping me
with my little questions, anyway :-)
%
% --
% Mrinal Kalakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (PGP:B1E86F5B) http://listen.to/mrinal
% - - - - = ( Redhat Linux 6.1 ) = - - - - = ( Kernel 2.2.12-20 ) = - - - -
% Hackers discover the powers of two.
:-D
--
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