Re: [AD] Question about versions

[Colin Ward <lists@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 23/08/2008, you wrote:
> 

[Snip]

>> If 4.2 can run any Allegro game found on the Internet, what exactly is
>> 4.3 and is it worth my while to upgrade to that once I have released
>> 4.2?
>
> 4.3 is, roughly, 4.2 with some addons (mainly AllegroGL) in the same
> package.  It's meant to reduce installation hassles, pretty much.

Right.  Do you know if there are any games that take advantage of AllegroGL?

>> Also, I will release Allegro as a shared library so will a game
>> compiled with 4.2 be able to run with 4.3 shared libraries and vice
>> versa?  ie.  Are they binary compatible?
>
> No.

Ok.  But I assume they are source compatible?

>> Also, on the Allegro home page it is talking about the 4.3.10 release
>> and it says that it is the future 4.4 branch (fair enough) but that it
>> is "unrelated to the previous 4.3.0 and 4.3.1 releases."  What does
>>  that mean? It's very confusing!  I believe it was 4.3.1 that I
>> originally ported before going back to 4.2.1.
>
> What we now call "4.9" used to be called "4.3".  For these two cases,
> just pretend that:
>
>     4.3.0 --> 4.9.0
>     4.3.1 --> 4.9.1

Ok, I think I understand.  4.3 was the logical follow on from 4.2, but then
it spawned two branches, one of which remained in the old API style and one
of which morphed into 4.9/5.0?

> The difference between 4.2 and 4.9 is vast; it's basically a new
> library.  We could have called it something else, and maybe we should
> have.  It's only when you look at the code and see that much of the new
> code is based on the old code that you'll have a point of comparison.
>
> We did (and do) intend to have a compatibility layer so that programs
> written for 4.2 could be compiled with 5.0, with minor changes.
> Currently that layer doesn't exist, and since this is being done by
> hobbyists, it might never exist.

Which is probably alright if you have a working 4.2/4.3 implementation for a
given platform.  It's probably better to concentrate on the future.

My plan is to release Allegro based on either 4.2 or 4.3 (probably 4.2) and
then as a side project I'll hack on the Amiga version of 4.9/5.0 so it's
ready whenever you guys finish the Linux/Mac/Windows versions.  The
questions above are to ensure that the version I release (4.2 or 4.3) is
the right choice.  I don't want to have to come back to it if possible

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