Re: freemarker plugin

[Max Rydahl Andersen <ma...@redhat.com>]

>> * The original codebase for freemarker IDE was dead ~8 years ago and 
>> I
>> picked it up and
>> maintained it as part of JBoss Tools release so it could get regular
>> releases.
>>
>> * 4.2.x was not a good release for freemarker tools, this was where 
>> we
>> accepted external patches without having time to test and maintain 
>> it.
>> I'm sorry for that :/
>>
>> * It is included into Hibernate Tools since we use freemarker as
>> template language. (this is not a limitation, just stating we do 
>> depend
>> on it)
>>
>> * We have builds of it every night - so fixes are available as soon 
>> as
>> they can be.
>>
>> * Our regular public release cadence is about every 1-2 months,
>
> For JBoss Tools? (Said FM version update was scheduled for something
> like 4.4.0, 2016 September on Jira.)

Yes, we release milestones every 1-2 months. GA's every 3-4 months.

If an issue been closed and you think the fix is worthy to be in the 
current
maintenance then speak up on the jira/mailing list. Having people 
actually
speak up and show their interest can do wonders :)

>> but anyone want something more fresh can use the nightly.
>
> Should we advise average users to install from the nightly repo
> instead of from Eclipse Marketplace? I mean, do they only risk getting
> an unstable FreeMarker IDE?

If they want the latest fixes then nightly is the place to go.

We also have individual sites for each component 
(http://download.jboss.org/jbosstools/mars/snapshots/builds/jbosstools-freemarker_4.3.mars/) 
that *only* gives you updates to freemarker.

I just can't promise that will always work since it is not the URL's we 
test from.

> (BTW, I have tried using JBoss Tools nightly builds Eclipse update
> site few months ago. Surely it's much faster than waiting for stable
> releases, but for some reason FreeMarker IDE wasn't updated as often
> as it was committed into. I have ended up checking it out from GitHub
> and build it locally.)

If you are seeing commits made and the build not being updated within 
24hrs please
raise that on jbosstools-dev@lists.jboss.org so we can become aware 
there
is something wrong.

>> * We merge in any PR's we can find time to do. (as I hope you can
>> verify)
>>
>> * We do not support multiple patch streams for multiples versions of
>> Eclipse since we just don't have the time/resources to do so. But 
>> afaik
>> latest mars Freemarker can be installed on even older versions. Just 
>> not
>> verified.
>>
>> That said, I very much know we could do more fixes/changes, but I 
>> have
>> always said: If anyone shows up and are willing to do the testing and
>> the builds we can arrange for this individual component to do more
>> builds on its own.
>>
>> Just need someone to do that work.
>
> Yes, of course, that's why I have asked help on the FreeMarker dev
> list. (I didn't mean to blame JBoss Tools developers or something like
> that.) I myself try to focus on FreeMarker core development. That goes
> slowly enough because of lack of resources, so I try to dish out other
> tasks to others. (Not mention, that if I do everything, that's won't
> be acceptable for ASF either.)

:)

>> Just like I/we took it on many years ago, someone else can continue
>> that.
>>
>> Only wish I have is that the main features don't break installation 
>> API
>> and listens/help do fixes when JBoss Tools is about to release.
>>
>> So if you or someone else want to jump in and do more releases of
>> freemarker in addition to the one we already do - let me know and 
>> we'll
>> figure it out!
>
> Thanks for the detailed answer!

No problem. I'm sorry I can't follow freemarker-dev regularly anymore, 
but
just want to let you know that if you do see problems feel free to post
on jbosstools-dev or jira.

We do listen and are happy to help or get help to solve whatever we can.

/max
http://about.me/maxandersen