Official CVS builds?

[shashClp]

I've been thinking on doing some serious work on the CVS regarding the 3D core and the general speed. I know I can get easily a 10% speed up and make the 3D games look correct, but the current stopper is the unofficial builder...

I've been thinking on doing builds on my blog as I update the CVS, but still have to think about it. The good point is having trusted builds that will stop a bit before official releases to keep some surprises on the official releases, and having more control over what's in the CVS builds (for example, removing the "report bug" on the menus).

I'd like to receive some opinions, especially something a bit more elaborate than "do it"

[Hard core Rikki]

Would a CVS really be more desirable than an SVN? Just asking.

WIP builds sound indeed nice (especially to showcase progress). Having official progress builds (instead of many 'unofficial' ones circulating on the net) could help garner some more insightful feedback from the community too.

[shashClp]

Originally Posted by Hard core Rikki

Would a CVS really be more desirable than an SVN? Just asking.

Nope, at all, but currently desmume is using CVS. I've asked quite a lot of times to move to SVN (I'm more used to it, and the tools are better, imho) but didn't get any results from the rest of the team.

[refraction]

ive found with PCSX2, less "dodgy" releases seem to appear when there are official releases. but on the other hand you have to realise if you make them publicly available, people will start asking for support on them. It will be down to you if you choose to allow support or not, just make sure you let the mods/admin know or make a thread for sticky so we know to moderate it

[shashClp]

Originally Posted by refraction

ive found with PCSX2, less "dodgy" releases seem to appear when there are official releases. but on the other hand you have to realise if you make them publicly available, people will start asking for support on them. It will be down to you if you choose to allow support or not, just make sure you let the mods/admin know or make a thread for sticky so we know to moderate it

Yep, obviously the idea is based on amponzi's builds and PCSX2. I still have to think about it, as I said, because the "support" problem is quite large. Even if I would like to avoid supporting them (it's quite a lot better having only one version to get bugs reported from, that's clear), I've found myself on the past saying too many times: "That bug is fixed on CVS, wait until we release a build". And then seeing the same bug reported quite a lot of other times. This way I could resort to those builds, and in case of regression, have more accurate information, else I only get regression bugs information from testers who can build desmume.

We usually try to keep the CVS stable at all times, and I "usually" know what CVS versions could cause problems (and thus would avoid doing builds from them), I guess I could control the problems. Of course there will be issues, but they already exist on official releases, so it's something I'm used to :P

[refraction]

yeh now instead of saying "the bug is fixed on cvs" you can say "get the latest beta from the site"

[Mad]

Originally Posted by shashClp

This way I could resort to those builds, and in case of regression, have more accurate information, else I only get regression bugs information from testers who can build desmume.

I used to do that. I build the latest cvs, test and report, but no need to say this to you Shash, since i bugged you many times
And i only stopped doing so, because development went really slow, and there was nothing new to test.

And those builds by amponzi were nice, coz more ppl could test and report errors and regressions. Its better to have more ppl testing, even more now, since the compat list on desmume.org was deleted....

[shashClp]

Originally Posted by Mad

(...) since the compat list on desmume.org was deleted....

Check again, I talked to Guillaume and seems he could recover it from an old backup

Well, any other opinions? I've setup a web page and I'm quite sure about the idea, but I would like to hear other opinions if possible.

Third (and hopefully last) edit, to tease people a bit, let's see if I get more opinions on the matter with a few comparative shots of what it is, and what could be :P

[NHervé]

Originally Posted by shashClp

I've been thinking on doing some serious work on the CVS regarding the 3D core and the general speed. I know I can get easily a 10% speed up and make the 3D games look correct, but the current stopper is the unofficial builder...

Why don't you do this ? Instead of playing Mario64 with green sky, solid water and black columns instead of shadows, people could play with real sky, translucent water and correct shadows.
No, instead of this, you're posting screenshots where the game looks perfect, but you don't commit your changes, so people must wait and play with glitches...

But I'm also working on DeSmuME (mods), and Mario64 will look better (not perfect) in the mod 3.

[shashClp]

Originally Posted by NHervé

Why don't you do this ? Instead of playing Mario64 with green sky, solid water and black columns instead of shadows, people could play with real sky, translucent water and correct shadows.
No, instead of this, you're posting screenshots where the game looks perfect, but you don't commit your changes, so people must wait and play with glitches...

But I'm also working on DeSmuME (mods), and Mario64 will look better (not perfect) in the mod 3.

Because I want to hear opinions about that model of development/distribution, which I'm not getting, and I thought an incentive would move more people to spend a few minutes writing their opinion... Noting the obvious won't help, in case you're wondering.

[dreampeppers99]

The scheme of Public CVS release can vanish with "non-official version CVS"...
And if you keep news about it on your blog people can stay more and more eagier...
So post news/cvspublic on your blog (my opinion)
If people See the progress they keep waiting news...

The scheme of Public CVS release can vanish with "non-official version CVS"...
And if you keep news about it on your blog people can stay more and more eagier...
So post news/cvspublic on your blog (my opinion)
If people See the progress they keep waiting news...

we love see progress and screenshoots

[MasterPhW]

Yeah, I agree to nearly all my preposters.
The best way to "support" a community is to tease them with screenshots and probably some new cvs builds from time to time, and probably it will get some more devs aboard aswell.
Your blog is a great proove. I really enjoy reading it, there are a lot great teaser (even if you don't apply some changes to the public cvs) and also has a lot feedreader I think.
So I would say, give it a go, try how good it will work, and if it doesn't work, then probably stop it.

[shashClp]

While waiting if anyone objects against the idea (from the DeSmuME team, mainly), I've published the simple page that will host them, have a peek here. I know the web could be better, but web design isn't something I'm particularly expert of.

[dreampeppers99]

"web design isn't something I'm particularly expert of."

:P I like it
Simple and informative...

[shashClp]

As far as of now, no one from the team has objected, thus I'll be uploading the first build (and changes to the CVS) in a few hours.

EDIT: Seeing no one objected against the builds, I've just uploaded the first one: let's all hope this turns well and I can keep on this

First WIP

[RockmanForte]

Good job, shadhClp. I really like your new WIP site.

[ShakirMole]

very nice work shash... i like yer site, simple and exactly wat is needed is displayed