Description

No, not now. Don't worry. But we have to start talking about this

topic: when and how 1.8.7 should die.

"You should really use 1.9". I have said this again and again and now

repeat it once more. As we're about to release 1.9.3 I can't but say

it is, totally wonderful. Rich features. Faster execution. Rubygems

integrated. Rails works perfectly. I've been using 1.9 for years and

now I can't go back to the days without it.

So why there's still 1.8.7? It's also clear: for system admins. So

far 1.8.7 has been adopted widely because it was a state of art ruby

implementation of the day it was released. Even after you stop

writing software for something, it needs bugfixes and maintenance

releases. For ruby 1.8.7 , that's what I'd been offering for these

three years.

Now... I know many of you're still developing your software against

1.8.7 in spite of its dead-endedness. Sooner or later the whole Ruby

community will move towards 1.9 and those 1.8.7-based systems are

expected to become unmaintained. I don't like the situation. I want

you and your system to be 1.9 ready.

So to encourage your moving towards 1.9, I think I should define

1.8.7's end-of-life to be at some point in the future. I guess you're

not moving to 1.9 because 1.8 is (or at least seems to be) maintained.

Let's stop it. We will no longer touch 1.8.7 in any way once after

the EOL. right?

My current timeline (to be rescheduled) is:

Normal maintenance (as it is today): provided until June 2012,

Security fixes: provided until June 2013.

Give us your opinioms.