[jbosstools-dev] What should we call next year's JBoss Tools release? :: JBDS-1987

[Nick Boldt]

Just FYI, there's been some discussion about the next release of JBT in 
terms of its actual version number.

I set 3.4 for next year's 2013 release because it's the next logical 
version and continues to follow the Web Tools project @ Eclipse for base 
version numbering.

---

HOWEVER, it's been suggested we might want to align w/ Eclipse this time 
around to emphasize the fact that the next release will build on top of 
the 4.x series of Eclipse platforms, rather than the 3.x series (JBDS 5 
uses Eclipse "Indigo" 3.7.2, but JBDS 6 will use Eclipse "Juno" 4.2 
which has a compatibility layer so it can run on 3.8.).

So, we could call the next JBT 4.0 or 4.2 (or stick with 3.4):

2012: JBT 3.3 / JBDS 5.0 / Eclipse 3.7
2013: JBT 4.0 / JBDS 6.0 / Eclipse 4.2
2014: JBT 4.1 / JBDS 7.0 / Eclipse 4.3

  OR

2012: JBT 3.3 / JBDS 5.0 / Eclipse 3.7
2013: JBT 4.2 / JBDS 6.0 / Eclipse 4.2
2014: JBT 4.3 / JBDS 7.0 / Eclipse 4.3

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There's also an open JIRA asking that the next release of JBT be called 
6.0 to finally align with JBDS. So JBT 6 would feed JBDS 6, instead of 
JBT 3.4 feeding JBDS 6.0. Simpler, no?

The only snag with the 6 -> 6 plan is that it means the year after, we 
might want to do a minor update, JBT 6.1 based on Kepler (Eclipse 4.3), 
but because we can't do a platform upgrade from an Eclipse 4.x to 
4.(x+1), we need to call the following year's release JBDS 7, not 6.1, 
and that breaks the numbering alignment again.

Conversely, if we call the 2014 release JBT 7 and JBDS 7, we are 
implying a huge API change from the 2013 release. This isn't the end of 
the world, but may in fact prevent adoption as people will see 7 as 
being a major break from 6, vs. simply having a 6.0 then 6.1 minor release:

2012: JBT 3.3 / JBDS 5.0 / Eclipse 3.7
2013: JBT 6.0 / JBDS 6.0 / Eclipse 4.2
2014: JBT 6.1 / JBDS 7.0 / Eclipse 4.3

or

2012: JBT 3.3 / JBDS 5.0 / Eclipse 3.7
2013: JBT 6.0 / JBDS 6.0 / Eclipse 4.2
2014: JBT 7.0 / JBDS 7.0 / Eclipse 4.3

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Here's another option, which I like though it reminds me a little of how 
Sun used to do version numbering (drop first digit between releases*):

2012: JBT 3.3 / JBDS 5.0 / Eclipse 3.7
2013: JBT 3.6 / JBDS 6.0 / Eclipse 4.2
2014: JBT 3.7 / JBDS 7.0 / Eclipse 4.3

In this scenario, the minor digit of JBT == major digit of JBDS = sum of 
major + minor digits of the Eclipse version. Clarity w/o parity. :)

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Please discuss your preferences in 
https://issues.jboss.org/browse/JBDS-1987.

-- 
Nick Boldt :: JBoss by Red Hat
Productization Lead :: JBoss Tools & Dev Studio
http://nick.divbyzero.com

* - 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_%28operating_system%29#Version_history, 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_version_history