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I must admit I have always had a little problem seeing the logic in having 3 versions 2.45, 2.50 and version 3 at the same time. But seeing I am not developing core directly I was assuming there was an idea behind this.
The idea is very simple - it's
Parallel Development.
2.4.4 was going to be the last version of XOOPS on PHP4.
2.5.0 was going to be the first version of XOOPS strictly on PHP5
We were planning to finalize 2.4.4 and then move to 2.5.0. But there were still couple of bugs, so Trabis kept going with 2.4.5 as a "maintenance" release, while the French team worked on the new 2.5.0.
We just didn't want to leave people who are still on PHP4 with a version that had bugs, so we had 2.4.5 as a "maintenance" release. Of course, all the changes in 2.4.5 would be merged into 2.5.0.
So this is the explanation why we had 2.4.5 and 2.5.0 at the same time. A simple time overlap, while trying to be "customer driven" and taking care of our users on PHP4.
Regarding 3.0 is a different story. This will be a different architecture, while keeping compatibility as much as possible with current XOOPS modules. Since it is a major task, and kind of experimental design, DJ was working separately on this to create a proof of concept.
To make it easier to understand, think about it as in car design/production.
You have now in production the 2010 model (XOOPS 2.4.x).
At the same time, you're working on the 2011 model (XOOPS 2.5.0), which will be an improved version of the 2010 model.
While you work on 2011 model, of course, you don't stop production of 2010 model. You introduce small improvements to it, if needed, and keep delivering it to your customers.
And then you have the 2012 model (XOOPS 3.0), which will be a hybrid car, a totally different architecture. It's an experimental car, where things can change very rapidly, new things will be tried and thrown away, if they don't work. Again, you don't stop production of 2010 model, and you don't stop the design of 2011 model.
This approach is also based on our experience with Skalpa and his new version of XOOPS. For those of you who aren't here long enough, Skalpa, who was the lead developer in 2005, proposed a new XOOPS version called
XoopSphere. A great concept, but while he was working on it, everything else stopped, and everybody waited for this new version. After a year of waiting, Skalpa was not able to finish it due to health issues. So we've ended up without the new version, and with wasted one year because we didn't work on the standard XOOPS version.
I trust DJ that he'll deliver the new version, but we couldn't take again such a risk as with Skalpa (in case DJ get sick, or get hit by a bus, etc.). So in order to avoid this kind of risk, we've continued with 2.4.x and started work on 2.5.0.
The thought process was that if DJ gets delayed, we still have good 2.4.5 version, and then a great 2.5.0 version, which will keep our users happy for a long time.
Our goal is to finalize 2.4.5 ASAP, and move on with 2.5.0.
I hope, this explains a little bit our thought process.