From: "David A. Black" Date: 2009-02-15T21:56:33+09:00 Subject: Re: If you are unhappy with the direction of Ruby 1.8.7+, respond Hi -- On Sun, 15 Feb 2009, Pit Capitain wrote: > 2009/2/15 Nobuyoshi Nakada : >> At Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:10:58 +0900, >> Gregory Brown wrote in [ruby-talk:327704]: >>> I am setting up two threads in the hopes that we can see names >>> attached to opinions about the decision to break backwards >>> compatibility between Ruby 1.8.6 and Ruby 1.8.7+ >> >> Could anyone summarize compatibility issues which really exist >> now? > > The only things I remember from this long discussion are: > > * The new String#chars clashed with a method of Rails > with the same name > > * It is not allowed anymore to create new objects during > garbage collection (the SWIG problem) > > Both are at least questionable to being categorized as breaking > backwards compatibility and seem to have been fixed. Everything else > that had been said here and in other threads had to be withdrawn. I would just add that most of the issues brought up about 1.8.7 (questions as to why a "stepping stone" to 1.9 is needed, the unprecedented quantity of change for a teeny number (which I think is not in dispute; the core team has said that a decision was made to redefine the meaning of the numbering), the unprecedented amount of backporting, the impact on non-MRI interpreters, and, in particular, the dramatically increased likelihood that code being developed on the later version (1.8.7) would be completely, deeply incompatible with the earlier version (1.8.6)) -- these issues, and many of the others that have been raised, are still there. If it were all just a matter of a few bumps along the way in running older code on the newer version, I'm sure we would not have been having all these discussions. Lots of the people who perceive problems have also gone through other 1.6 and 1.8 transitions; it's not a crowd that likes to stir up problems for their own sake. So *something* is different this time around. I hope we'll be able to move through it smoothly and with creative solutions, but there are definitely complexities to this set of transitions that were not present in every previous transition. David -- David A. Black / Ruby Power and Light, LLC Ruby/Rails consulting & training: http://www.rubypal.com Coming in 2009: The Well-Grounded Rubyist (http://manning.com/black2) http://www.wishsight.com => Independent, social wishlist management!