Magma Release Lifecycle
Last updated at 8:24 pm UTC on 19 April 2011
This page explains the process by which improvements to the Magma software are delivered.
There are usually just two versions of Magma, the latest stable release and "head". Stable is usually an older version that may have undergone more testing and is one-click installable from SqueakMap. However, often the head release has fixes that the "stable" release doesn't have. Generally, both are stable, however the head release might, for example, be in a new Magma file-format, so it is important to keep the prior stable legacy version too.
Each set of improvements are posted to the squeaksource repository during the iteration lifecycle. Later, when a sufficient number of improvements have accumulated, a new release is posted to the same squeaksource repository with configuration scripts available on SqueakMap and here.
The expectation designations:
- alpha (analysis) - Experimental, certain things may be broken. The purpose of this version is to "try" something. The improvement may or may not be accepted.
- beta (design) - Betas are expected to "work". The entire test suite must pass for a beta to be posted. Indicates general acceptance of at least the idea of the improvement, but not always the implementation.
- gamma (final testing) - The final version that becomes the next "stable". Passes test suite of course but also tested with at least one application. Further functionality will be added to a branch of this version, only bug fixes are allowed to this version.
When the goals of the entire iteration have been achieved and sufficient testing creates enough confidence to make it the "stable" release, it is made so.
