[scribus] The never-ending quest for a stable version

[John Culleton]

On Saturday, June 18, 2011 09:41:46 pm Gregory Pittman wrote:


> 
> Technically, right now 1.3.3.14 is stable, 1.40rc5 unstable, 1.5.0
> developmental.
> 
> We are on the verge of squashing a few last bugs so that 1.4.0 can
> become the stable version. Then it seems that 1.5.0 will be a
> combination of unstable/developmental. When 1.5.x becomes good enough,
> it will become the next stable 1.6. Who knows when the future 1.7.0
> might be started...
> 
> You can expect that after 1.4.0 becomes the stable version that there
> will be releases of 1.4.x as various additional bugs are fixed, but
> since it's a stable version no new features will be added. Bug fixing
> stopped on 1.3.3.14 some time ago.
> 
> Greg
> 

It is my suggestion (again) that all users of Scribus use the latest available 
release candidate of 1.4.0. The chances of a damaging bug screwing up your 
work are quite small. I have on my desk the most recent authoritative book on 
Scribus and it is titled "Scribus 1.3.5". A somewhat less useful book titled 
"Using Free Scribus..." suggests using 1.3.8, presumably the latest version 
available when the book was written.  No one writes about 1.3.3.14 any more  
Thus there is IMO no reason to use version 1.3.3.14, despite the title of 
"stable". It is not only stable, it is quite obsolete. 

Periodically we get questions on the list about 1.3.3.14. It is years out of 
date. No one is working on it. I suspect that few experienced Scribus users 
still have it on their computer. Questions about that version will likely get 
less response than questions about 1.3.5-1.4.0, and in that series 1.4.0 is 
closer to bug-free than its predecessors. 

Only one piece of application software that I know of has been proven correct, 
and that is the original plain tex version of TeX. But few use it anymore. The 
modernizations found in e.g. pdftex, luatex, xetex, Context etc. and their 
LaTeX counterparts quite outweigh the the theoretical advantages of perfect 
correctness. The same situation exists in Scribus. In Scribus-talk "unstable" 
often means the latest useful version. "Developmental" Scribus is the bleeding 
edge where problems crop up from time to time as new concepts are tested. But 
even this product is usable most of the time.  

Bottom line, use 1.4.0 RC whatever and don't worry about it. That's what I do. 

-- 
John Culleton


"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
http://booklocker.com/books/4055.html
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