MyBB Community Forums

When new MyBB comes out I always make a DIFF from old to new sources. Last release - 1.2.9:
http://community.mybboard.net/showthread.php?tid=20910
had only 3 changes - as shown in mybb_128_code_fix.txt (or mybb_129_changed_files.zip). But DIFF between mybb_128.tar.gz and mybb_129.tar.gz shows more:
1. admin/adminfunctions.php (small)
2. admin/global.php (small)
3. inc/functions.php (whoaa!)
4. private.php (one more little difference)

Patch from full sources grabbed from mybboard.net - in attachment [attachment=6785]

Development of projects should be predictable and stable from users point of view. So if developer says something like: "here is a patch from X to Y" all users expect that:
X+patch=Y
It is even more important for all people preparing own patches/modifications. And for "big" users which use that software in business or in other large projects.

Can I have an answer why all differences between full sources (1.2.8 and 1.2.9) were not present in patch files?

Some little things get changed between some versions. However, they are not important enough to add them in the manual patch instructions. The other code would work too.

destroyer Wrote:Some little things get changed between some versions. However, they are not important enough to add them in the manual patch instructions.

But what about people who use always patches? Their sources will always be not sync'ed with "full MyBB".

It won't make a big difference. And when a major version is released, all forums will be synced with the "full MyBB" because there won't be any manual patch instructions.

Essentially, the manual patches fix the major problems whilst if you do the full patch (replace the changed files etc) then you will get the minor fixes as well. Usually these are just simple changes that increase the speed of some operations.

koziolek Wrote:

destroyer Wrote:Some little things get changed between some versions. However, they are not important enough to add them in the manual patch instructions.

But what about people who use always patches? Their sources will always be not sync'ed with "full MyBB".

We are not obligated to provide support for "modified" versions of MyBB. You need to use plugins and if you can't use a plugin then request a plugin hook.

As for the extra files, they were put in as fixes for a common error. Since we weren't ready to release another maintenance package, we just threw them in so no body else who downloaded the package would continue to have the error. Anybody who currently experiences the error can tell us and we will just give them the new file.

About the "whooaaa" change in inc/functions.php, the removed code only affected certain Windows installations, which aren't that many. Any other boards will continue to function as before with or without the code removed. As Tikitiki said, if there are any people having problems using just the patch we would just direct them to the new file.

Thank you for answers.

Although I still think this is not a best solution. Applications like Bulletin Boards (and other CMS) are often modified. There are lot of mods and patches because people want to some functionalities that are not present. Also corporate users expect stabilized policy in releases. For these people stable release cycle is very important. I think this kind of developing cycle is not yet ready for these users (although I appreciate maintaining old 1.1 MyBB which some of them may still use...).