Hi team,
It would be helpful to have better line of sight as to what will be in the next scheduled release version before it arrives. This could be like a JIRA output where it shows -RESOLVED- FIXED- NEW- UPDATED -ETC... This is already somewhat provided in the release notes and in the "New VirtualMin Features" page on after log-in, however knowing what will be fixed will help a lot. To post a bug, suggestion, feature request is often difficult since you don't know if it's already planned, or if it will be in upcoming version, or if it has been already reported and the action that will be taken. This leaves somewhat of an anxiety as to the direction of the product for newcomers and also for those that have been using VirtualMin/Webmin for sometime.
So maybe a Roadmap is good, but a more lively 'upcoming release' page for minor release updates would be very helpful.
For example, I know that Joomla 1.7 is out and they recommend not to use 1.6 at all anymore. Not sure if this will be in 3.88. But I had to search the forums, I found some mention of 1.7 but it's still unclear to me if the script installer will be updated and when. I think it should be easier for clients to find out what's happening with VirtualMin without searching and hitting the forums.
When I'm trying to plan my business I need to get better grasp as to what I can offer and if Joomla 1.7 is released and it's hot off the press, everyone wants it, but I don't know when my script installer will have that feature, then that it leaves me in a though position as I can't even begin the market it. (I'm using Joomla 1.7 as an example)
Finally, perhaps script installers should be refreshed every month, or whenever a new release of a script is made available, without changing the VirtualMin version. This way the Script Installer component becomes its own module with its own version number that is independent of the rest of the system. We receive updates of these new scripts and this helps us earn more business and more client loyalty for always having the NEWEST stuff, because that's what sells. People want to jump on the next thing, and for web and consulting businesses it's vital that we are able to do this effectively which helps us manage change and advise our clients effectively.
Thanks for listening.
-Martin
Comments
Submitted by JamieCameron on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 19:06 Comment #1
Generally, any bug that has been marked as fixed before the release will be included in the next release - or whatever version we mention when the bug is resolved.
Regarding script installers, you can get access to new versions much faster by subscribing to our updates service at System Settings -> Script Installers -> Installer Updates. We aim to support new script versions (like Joomla 1.7) within 24 hours of release by their developers.
Submitted by martlam on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 19:44 Comment #2
Okay, maybe just a page that aggregates all the FIXED items from the forums for a defined period.
Script Installer Updates engaged!! I love it. Thanks.
Since everything else works, now all we have to fix is the GUI :P
Submitted by JamieCameron on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 19:56 Comment #3
I'll have to see in Drupal's ticket tracker can generate such as list of fixed tickets automatically..
I'll also mention that we decided at our last company meeting to make Install Scripts update by default (it was considered somewhat experimental in the beginning). So, everybody will begin see Install Scripts as soon as they are available, even if they don't know to turn that feature on.
As for the ticket tracker, you can filter the ticket tracker for Fixed status items...and, since Fixed tickets automatically become Closed after two weeks of inactivity, and because we roll a new Virtualmin release about every two or three weeks, that would roughly be a list of what's fixed in the next version. A link to that list:
https://www.virtualmin.com/project/issues?text=&projects=&status=2&prior...
We aren't Drupal experts around here, so making the ticket tracker do a lot more than it already does is probably beyond our abilities (without redirecting significant resources to it, and away from Virtualmin and Cloudmin), but it might be possible to build some sort of view based on the date of release of Virtualmin and Cloudmin versions (so something like "show all fixed Virtualmin issues since the date of release of 3.86" would probably be plausible without me having to understand a lot more than I already do about the issue tracker; maybe). I'll do some research to see what can be done without significant coding.
Submitted by martlam on Sat, 08/08/2015 - 15:59 Comment #5