Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 12th Mar 2008 22:59 UTC
The GNOME development community has announced the official release of version 2.22 after six months of development. GNOME is an open-source desktop environment that supplies a complete user interface and an assortment of programs for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. GNOME 2.22 includes some important new architectural features and a handful of significant new programs. Among the most important enhancements in GNOME 2.22 are the GVFS virtual file system framework, which brings improved network transparency to GNOME desktop applications, and the PolicyKit framework, which provides improved support for secure privilege elevation.
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Member since:2007-02-17
That was true but from my understanding the KDE devs have decided to also go with more incremental updates with the KDE4 series. They are learning their lesson after the whole KDE4 vs 4.0 debacle, if every release is a big one then people expect way too much. With incremental time based updates then the devs can focus on getting things working properly and if this release doesn't have some feature whats another six month wait. I personally think that's how Gnome gets away with not updating or fixing bugs for such long periods of time, things change so slowly that you just get used to the quirks. I still think incremental updates are a good thing.
Member since:2007-08-22
That was true but from my understanding the KDE devs have decided to also go with more incremental updates with the KDE4 series. They are learning their lesson after the whole KDE4 vs 4.0 debacle, if every release is a big one then people expect way too much. With incremental time based updates then the devs can focus on getting things working properly and if this release doesn't have some feature whats another six month wait.
I don't sit on the KDE lists much at all, so this is just my personal observations -
KDE seems to keep larger changes to the bigger release (KDE3, KDE4), which happen every few years. They let that guide the minor releases, which will tend to have some big, not architecturally big, changes (e.g. KDE 3.3 vs. KDE 3.4). This then leaves minor enhancements, and bug fixes, etc. for the point releases (e.g. KDE 3.4.9, KDE 4.0.2). So I think they have been consistent.
Last I read about major changes to KDE was for the 3.4 release, which was quite nice over 3.3 - though I didn't use 3.3 much. (I transitioned to KDE around that time from GNOME.)
Any how...from my perspective KDE has a consistent and good plan - use the major version for major arch issues, minor version for functional updates and major fixes within the arch, and point releases for bug fixes, etc. They also do quite well with getting updates out too.
Haven't paid much attention to GNOME lately, but they don't seem to be making any where near the news or doing near as much to put together a user friendly desktop as the KDE folks (one of the reasons I moved to KDE).
Member since:2005-07-13
They are learning their lesson after the whole KDE4 vs 4.0 debacle, if every release is a big one then people expect way too much. With incremental time based updates then the devs can focus on getting things working properly and if this release doesn't have some feature whats another six month wait.
There was no debacle, or lesson to be learned. KDE4 required some significant tear-down / rebuild of KDE3. That took some time, and is still partially a work in progress. KDE 4.1 was targeted for release approximately 6 months after 4.0, before 4.0 was even released.
KDE has always had an incremental update policy between major versions; changes get pushed into svn, and on a regular basis they are tagged for a point release.
KDE and Gnome cannot necessarily work on the same type of rigid release structure. KDE is based primarily on Qt, whereas Gnome is based on Gtk and a collection of supporting libraries, all of which have their own roadmaps. Qt4 introduced enough changes that warranted a rebuild of KDE to take advantage of, Gtk et al. do not evolve in the same cycle, so any decision for a reworking of Gnome will be based on an intersection of different projects reaching a certain point.
That's not to say one method is better than the other, they both have their advantages and disadvantages, as KDE 4.0 underscored. Simply saying that you cannot arbitrarily use the same yardstick to evaluate development cycles.
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Member since:
2006-11-21
There is a big difference in development philosophy. GNOME is much for focus on steady incremental changes or "evolution" if you want, while the KDE team has been more focused on big changes to try to create something new and "revolutionary". It can be seen in release schedules. GNOME releases every six months which leaves only a 4-5 month instability window where people can merge in new things. This has led to 12 releases in 6 years. In the same space of time, KDE has released 7 major versions.
Both approaches have merit but invariably the development of GNOME may seem a bit more dull from the outside, due to the steady evolutionary approach.
The approach is very practical, pragmatic and business like if you like, while the KDE approach is more enthusiastic and idealistic.
I personally think both teams can learn from each other here. I think there sometimes is a bit too much change for the sake of change within KDE, while GNOME sometimes is too conservative.
For GNOME's part I think they should stop doing ALL releases on a six month schedule because the six month schedule makes big platform changes very hard.
Maybe two releases every even years (2008, 2010 etc) and one release every odd years (2009, 2011 etc) or something to that effect would be a good compromise.