openFIRST Project Announces Pending Deadline for End of Support for Old Versions
The openFIRST project will be ending support for old versions of the openFIRST Portal System as of November 1st, 2005.
OPENFIRST, July 11th, 2005 – In a move to reduce the burden on core developers caused by the requirement to maintain support for old versions of the openFIRST Portal System modules, the openFIRST Project has created a plan to phase out support for the oldest versions of the software. Every effort is being made to reduce the burden that the removal of support for old versions will have on those who use software from the project. This includes providing a large window of support between this announcement and the deadline, as well as the deadline having been chosen to be after we believe most FIRST teams will have resumed for the upcoming season.
The modules scheduled to have their supported lives ended on November 1st, 2005 are:
- Versions of the awards module prior to version 1.0.2 (released April 12th, 2004)
- Versions of the base module prior to version 1.0.2 (released April 15th, 2004)
- Versions of the emoticon module prior to version 1.0.2 (released April 12th, 2004)
- Versions of the feedback module prior to version 1.0.2 (released April 15th, 2004)
- Versions of the guestbook module prior to version 1.0.2 (released April 15th, 2004)
- Versions of the logger module prior to version 1.0.2 (released April 15th, 2004)
- Versions of the members module prior to version 1.0.2 (released April 15th, 2004)
- Versions of the messenger module prior to version 1.0.1 (released April 15th, 2004)
- Versions of the news module prior to version 1.0.1 (released April 15th, 2004)
- Versions of the photogallery module prior to version 1.0.0 (released April 15th, 2004)
- Versions of the search module prior to version 1.0.0 (released April 15th, 2004)
It is suggested that users of older versions of any of these modules upgrade to the newest version listed on the “Latest File Releases” listing displayed at http://sourceforge.net/projects/openfirst . Support for those upgrading from old versions will be provided even after the November 1st end of support for the old version (since the support for the upgrade is part of the support for the newer version).
Those who encounter troubles as a result of upgrading are encouraged to report these bugs to the openFIRST development team. Bug reporting may be done through the openFIRST Bugzilla server for issues with the main openFIRST distribution itself at http://bugzilla.openfirst.org/ or alternatively at the openFIRST Forum on Chief Delphi at http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=108 Please do not e-mail those affiliated with the project directly to report bugs (doing so will just have your bug report added to the BZ server, and it frees up people’s time to actually fix the bugs if you do that yourself).
It is not recommended that users upgrade to the version of openFIRST in CVS as this version is currently in an unstable state and is undergoing significant deep rooted changes and restructuring which will render it incompatible with older versions of the software (an upgrade path will be provided at the time these new builds are released for external testing). At this time, please do not report bugs obvious found in CVS versions of the openFIRST software; non-obvious bugs, if discovered, should be reported through the openFIRST Bugzilla Server at http://bugzilla.openfirst.org/ . Comments/suggestions for future versions of the software, including listings of the software/web-services you would most like to see openFIRST integrate with are also welcome at the openFIRST Bugzilla Server.
About the openFIRST Project
openFIRST is an initiative to help FIRST Robotics web sites prosper by aiding their developers with design and construction of components for their team’s web site. To do this, we have developed open-source components using PHP and ASP using the services of SourceForge.net.
openFIRST was initially founded by David Di Biase and Tim Ginn in 2003 at the FIRST Canadian Regional, where both their teams competed. During the competition David and Tim discussed a potential project of this mass. The weeks following consisted of constant develop until the beginning of 2004 season, where they released their creation to the world.
To this day the openFIRST development is striving to expand and create one of the largest most widely used open-source softwares for the FIRST competition’s of North America. Their next goal is to expand the openFIRST source code and make it even more advanced and easy-to-use with the help of FIRST student programmers.
More information about the openFIRST Project is available at http://www.openfirst.org/
Related Links
openFIRST Project Homepage - http://www.openfirst.org/
openFIRST Bugzilla Server - http://bugzilla.openfirst.org/
openFIRST Forum on Chief Delphi Forums - http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=108
openFIRST Source Forge Project Page - http://sourceforge.net/projects/openfirst/
Source Forge - http://www.sourceforge.net/