Re: freemarker plugin

[Daniel Dekany <dd...@freemail.hu>]

Tuesday, September 29, 2015, 9:48:57 AM, Max Rydahl Andersen wrote:

> Hi Daniel,
>
> I saw your post on 
> http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/incubator-freemarker-dev/201509.mbox/browser
> and a few pinged me on it.
>
> I just wanted to clarify a few things (I can't post/respond on the 
> mailing list since I no longer subscribe to it):

(You can actually, it just will be moderated in manually.)

> * 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.)

> 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?

(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.)

> * 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!

> /max
> http://about.me/maxandersen

-- 
Thanks,
 Daniel Dekany

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