On Thu, 09/14/2023 at 17:36 +0200, Martin Wilck wrote:
There's an open OBS request to update GNOME shell to 45.rc [1].
This update will break every existing GNOME extension [2,3]. As one of the pitiable individuals who have volunteered to co-maintain a few GNOME extensions in the past, I'd like to suggest that this update be postponed at least a few weeks. (No, not every extension maintainer follows GNOME beta releases).
I'm particularly surprised that this updated is pushed to Factory while this is still in RC stage upstream. Is it really necessary to rush this breaking change in this way?
Martin
[1] https://build.opensuse.org/request/show/1110494 [2] https://gjs.guide/extensions/upgrading/gnome-shell-45.html#esm [3] https://news.itsfoss.com/gnome-45-extensions/
Hi there Martin, While I sympathize with you -- I really do as I do use a few, and I've seen many extensions breakage over and over and over --, the idea of postponing our release for at least a few weeks doesn't appeal to me at all. We don't have enough man power to coordinate such deliberate delay, and I'm not sure that it would be a good idea in general. Yes, I'm aware that there are people relying on extensions to make the most out of GNOME for their needs, be it specific or not. However, I'm not sure that's the best way to handle all of this, either. The sooner the release gets used/tested by the general user, the more issues get uncovered by them and (hopefully) reported, at least in theory. The sooner issues get fixed, the happier users (hopefully) become, in theory. And this should be a valid concern to all the GNOME components, to the very least, which are part of the core, and that such delay would hold back. Just like upstream has their own problems getting new contributors -- yes, GNOME is a non-profit organization after all. And even though there are many paid developers working on it, contributors still are a major driving force that greatly helps move development forward. That makes edges around the corner rougher than they should be, and unstable API for third-party GNOME extension developers to rely on being one of the things that get overlooked -- we also do, like any other great open source project nowadays. Now, I have to confess that I ended up forwarding some RC releases maybe a bit earlier, out of sheer habit -- gnome-shell was Dominique, though :~p But as others pointed out, staging all those pieces may take time and we want to be the early birds here when the final release is out. I've been using GNOME 45 since alpha and haven't found any major issues myself. So, I can say the overall quality of this cycle is not that bad. -- Kind regards, Luciano, openSUSE contributor (luc14n0)