[Koha-devel] Koha numbering

Mon Apr 8 12:37:23 CEST 2013

Hello David
As a librairian, I completely agree with you.
Changing from 3 to 14 or 16 will raise a many questions, and vendors and 
Koha staff in libraries will spend a LOT of energy and time on 
explaining the change.

M. Saby

David Cook a écrit :
> I agree with Marcel and Owen. I don't think it's a good idea to jump from
> version 3.x to 14.x, and I think version numbering is an important
> discussion topic, since it affects how Koha is perceived by current and
> future users. 
>
> Having worked in libraries for the past 6-7 years as library staff and not a
> developer, I can state with a high level of confidence that consistency
> almost always matters more in libraries than software conventions; it is
> logically consistent that version 3 be followed by 4. Like Owen said, if
> that varies, there are going to be questions. While we might debate the
> merits of different version numbering systems, I don't think we're going to
> be the ones answering these questions in most cases. They're going to be
> aimed at trainers, salespeople, and technical staff who might not be
> developers. With the exception of Nicole, the majority of these people might
> throw up their hands and say, "I have no idea why it went from 3 to 14. It's
> weird." In many cases, no questions might be asked. In either case, people
> might just make negative judgements about the reliability, predictability,
> and transparency of Koha, especially if the "reason" for changing version
> numbering systems isn't made explicitly and readily available.
>
> Personally, I think it would make Koha look bad. The more often a Koha
> front-person says "I don't know" or "that's weird", the worse that person
> looks and the worse Koha looks. 
>
> I think the growing consensus of software users, interface designers, and
> sellers is "don't make me think". It should be intuitive. 
>
> That said, maybe I'm projecting a bit of my own biases. Maybe there would be
> some confused conversation about why Koha went from 3 to 14, but after the
> majority started using 14 and upgrading from there, it might not be an
> issue, because that idea of consistency would be regained. 
>
> As for whether or not users and libraries even look at version numbers...I
> imagine that the vast majority of people interacting directly with Koha
> never notice them. They don't appear in the OPAC and in the staff client
> it's tucked away in the system preferences and About page. 
>
> The ones caring are likely to be the ones who manage Koha in-house or the
> people who liaise with support companies. In these cases, maybe it would be
> easy enough to say, "Oh, the community just decided to change how it
> numbered each version", but I think this discussion will quickly be lost to
> time and the average Koha user/developer will have no idea why it changed
> and as Owen said...I imagine people might wonder if/what they're missing by
> going from 3.x to 14.x.
>
> For me, I think the most logical end to this discussion is to decide on a
> goal/trigger to switch to 4.x, and to just continue 3.x until that
> goal/trigger is reached.
>
>
> David Cook
> Systems Librarian
> Prosentient Systems P/L
> ABN 31 078 409 168
> 72/330 Wattle St, 
> Ultimo NSW 2007
> tel: 02 92120899
> fax: 02 92120885
> dcook at prosentient.com.au
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2013 12:10:30 +0000
> From: Marcel de Rooy <M.de.Rooy at rijksmuseum.nl>
> To: "koha-devel at lists.koha-community.org"
> 	<koha-devel at lists.koha-community.org>
> Subject: Re: [Koha-devel] Koha numbering
> Message-ID:
> 	
> <809BE39CD64BFD4EB9036172EBCCFA310E20641A at S-MAIL-1B.rijksmuseum.intra>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Cool discussion :)
> Here is my thought: If there is no big reason to jump to the next higher
> number (in this case 3->4) in some period, do it at least every so-much
> years. That is reason enough..
> But please do not jump from 3 to 14 !
>
> Marcel
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2013 08:45:25 -0400
> From: Owen Leonard <oleonard at myacpl.org>
> To: "koha-devel at lists.koha-community.org"
> 	<koha-devel at lists.koha-community.org>
> Subject: Re: [Koha-devel] Koha numbering
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAO4qe2O9eCbyG8RhMaku7ZiKCJVq7u3qijCKO4_N7oU7=aQwfg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> I think this is a worthwhile discussion to have, and I'm actually in no
> hurry (yet) to cut it off. I think there are still aspects which need to be
> considered.
>
> Version numbering is important to different groups for different reasons.
> For developers, we need version numbering to keep track of where we are in
> the release cycle and to help us make judgements about how to manage and
> maintain previous releases. For users the version number gives them an
> indication about how important it is to upgrade.
>
>   
>> But please do not jump from 3 to 14 !
>>     
>
> When considering users, I think this is an important consideration.
> Jumping from 3 to 14 would be really confusing to users, and create
> expectations about what that version number means. Did we jump 11 version
> numbers because 3.14 is 11 version numbers better than 3.12?
> Did we jump 11 version numbers because a pseudo-Koha project has practiced
> version number inflation? No matter how well we communicate our reasons for
> switching numbering systems these questions are going to come up. Are we
> okay with that?
>
> I agree with those who worry that incrementing full version numbers like we
> did point releases before is going to make it more difficult for users to
> know how important it is to upgrade. As developers we know how much work
> goes into making 3.10 into 3.12, but users have to weigh a lot of factors
> when deciding whether and when to upgrade.
> Self-supporting libraries in particular may not have the resources to
> upgrade for every version. Will a new numbering scheme make this more
> difficult for them?
>
> All that said, I think it is problematic that we don't have a plan, under
> the current numbering scheme, to move from 3.x to 4.x.
>
> Just to muddy the waters more: What if we came up with a goal (or
> goals) to set to trigger the flip from 3 to 4, and then implemented the new
> version scheme from there? That would give the users the satisfaction of
> seeing a version jump, and give us some lead time to "sell" the new
> numbering scheme.
>
> With apologies to those who want this to be over,
>
>   -- Owen
>
> --
> Web Developer
> Athens County Public Libraries
> http://www.myacpl.org
>
>
>
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>   

-- 
Mathieu Saby
Service d'Informatique Documentaire
Service Commun de la Documentation
Université Rennes 2
Téléphone : 02 99 14 12 65
Courriel : mathieu.saby at univ-rennes2.fr

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