[Qt-creator] Dev: Qt Creator 4.8 feature freeze is approaching

[André Pönitz]

On Wed, Sep 19, 2018 at 05:48:12PM +0200, Jason H wrote:
> I went to look online for what will be in Qt Creator 4.8, and didn't
> find anything.

The ChangeLog is being worked on, the current state is at
http://code.qt.io/cgit/qt-creator/qt-creator.git/tree/dist/changes-4.8.0.md
and it will be released when the release is ready.

> Well I did, but I saw a lot of old Qt 4.8 proper stuff.
> I'm wondering if versioning QtCreator to be the same as the Qt version
> it is built with is becoming a good idea?

This will create as least as many broken expectations as it will fix.

1. There is no "the Qt version it is build with", but Qt Creator can
typically be build with Qt back to the previous Qt LTS plus possible a
bit more. There are also good reasons for that, for one, one of my
favourits is that it eases development when one can use 'git bisect' on
different repos without rebuilding every part involved on each step.

2. Qt Creator release every four months, Qt every six.  Again, there are
reasons for either, but given these cycles syncing numbers will create
surprises.

3. Qt gives certain compatibility guarantees between minor versions that
do not and should not exist for Qt Creator. Syncing version numbers will
raise expectations that will be broken, or increase the pressure to
submit to the same rules which would basically completely stall Qt
Creator development as it has not been created with binary compatibility
in mind.

> Qt 4.8 is still going strong in some communities.

It does indeed.

> This does complicate versioning a little, as a release of Creator
> might come before (or after) a release of Qt. But they do seem to
> coincide quite often.

The end-of-year releases tend to coincide, i.e. every second Qt and
every third Qt Creator release.

> ANd since Qt is built with the latest Qt, isn't it a 5.x anyway? 

Qt is build with the latest Qt and that is a 5.x. ;}
 
> Just a thought.

I personally think having thoughts is fine.

> Anyway, what's on the way for 4.8?  My own desires are:
> https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTCREATORBUG-20941 - Device status
> indicator (please?) Nice to have:
> https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTCREATORBUG-21022 - Standardize Qt
> Kit Names (for Qt Creator?) (got a lot of interest on 'interest' ml)
> https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTCREATORBUG-20445 - Process status
> icons on output panes

None of them seem to have been worked on.

I might still have a shot at QTCREATORBUG-21022, but I do not promise
anything for 4.8.

> And for the love of whatever your favorite deity is, please stop
> injecting two " when there is a non-whitespace character to the right
> of where the quote will be. 'this|d' should not ever become 'this""d'!
> It is not helpful. Then when you backspace to get rid of ONE of the
> two, it gets rid of BOTH so you're back where you started. No other
> editor in existence behaves this way. I've lived with this for a
> decade now and it still trips me up!
> https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTCREATORBUG-20045

Haven't hit that one lately, but then I tend to switch off everything
with "smart", "intelligent" and "automatic" in its description ;p

Andre'