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Spark 3.0.0 roadmap discussion

Spark Spark Dev
#1

Moving discussion out of UI refresh thread to not have too many topics there.

Also, this is outside of scope of this thread, but such a big visual refresh kind of requires a major release. So i was thinking about 3.0.0 maybe. But we also spoke about removing bundled Java at some point and i was also thinking about 3.0.0 for such impactful in a sense change. But i was not thinking on releasing such version this soon. So now i’m not sure how to go about this. Also, if we go with this new single skin/theme, we should remove other parts that are not required now (jtattoo, littleluck, substance). Which is probably as easy as removing them in pom.xml. And for 3.0.0 we surely want the latest Smack version, which will require some work to adjust Spark to.

Spark look and feel refresh
#2

What you’re saying all makes sense to me. Maybe it is worth to have an ‘alpha’ or ‘beta’ release for 3.0.0 though, so that we can get some more feedback on the UI?

Spark look and feel refresh
#3

in addition, Id like to squeeze a few other things into 3.0. mainly carbon support. Jcif is now in maven, so that might be worth a try again.

#4

Unless you finally quit slacking and start programming :smiley: We might wait a few years if we want to put everything in.

Yes, we can have a beta and do a blog post and maybe some admins will notice this on a feed in admin console or by visiting the site. But i don’t have high hopes that many will try it. I will move this to a separate thread.

#6

So, i was thinking.

3.0.0 Beta - New UI (remove JTattoo, Substance and LittleLuck along the way), Pade Meetings, Latest Smack, possibly Carbons support and JCEF (depends on how much work is required, but maybe move to later)
3.0.0 Final after 2-4 weeks
3.0.x Bug fixes and small improvements
3.0.5 Carbons and JCEF (if not completed for 3.0.0)
3.1.0 no JRE bundling, maybe move away from Java 8 and support Java 11/15 only? (also Beta?)

#7

I have nothing to add beyond how great it is to see Spark development come “alive” again. It is hands down the best XMPP desktop client out there.

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#9

So, GUI refresh is mostly completed. There are a few minor issues that can be filed in the tracker and left to fix later. I have also just removed JTattoo, Substance and LittleLuck from pom.xml. Installer weights whopping 3.5 MB less now :smiley:

Nobody has volunteered to work on latest Smack support. So can leave it for 3.0.5/3.1.0 or such. Same for Carbons, JCEF.

Emoticons… i don’t like free ones i have found and they require us to add another contribution links to readme, etc. Also there is a bug that causes new icons not to overwrite old ones. So most users won’t see new icons anyway. Maybe after this bug is fixed we can get back to this and work on a new bigger emoticons pack.

So, i think GUI refresh and Pade Meetings integration is enough for 3.0.0. Should we now prepare the Beta release? @k33ptoo @ilyaHlevnoy do you feel we need to polish something before the beta? @R87A maybe you are back from your break and want to work on something? :slight_smile:

#10

I would like this problem to be resolved before release https://igniterealtime.atlassian.net/browse/SPARK-2219
If none of the developers solves this problem, then I propose to rename the plugins and offer my PR(I sent you in a personal message) to block some plugins, since I and my users will not use Pade yet.

#11

And since now the search is at the top I think users will notice this bug. This is not critical, but it would be nice if it was fixed.

#12

Excellent work everybody! It’s been great watching everyone’s progress and how fast this has been moving along.
I’m going to roll this out to a number of my power users over the next few days and see if I can drum up any additional hiccups.
Thanks for the great work!

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#13

Enough waiting :slight_smile: Asked @akrherz here to help us with 3.0.0 Beta release. And hopefully final release soon after.

#14

I have submitted a pull request, but I am unsure if our website even supports such releases for Spark, but we shall find out.

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#15

Will see. Merged. Thanks!

#16

Thanks, Daryl. Beta is now on the site and blog post is up :wink: Spark 3.0.0 Beta Released

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