PT3 Build/Beta Release Schedule

[MrBug]

I was wondering whether you guys (Josh and Derek) had considered releasing betas more frequently than what you are doing now. Considering the fact that many of us poker players use PT3 just about every day and waiting 1-2 weeks between betas/builds seems rather extreme. It could possibly make tracking down some bugs easier when it is clear that a bug still persists from beta n to beta n+1, while some regression bugs may also be easier to fix when one knows what the changes in code were. I think that 2 betas (or builds) a week on average is pretty reasonable. Once the overwhelming majority of bugs have been fixed, it may then become reasonable to revert back to this release schedule.

Keep up the good work guys!

[fly1fisher]

Ditto. I agree with MrBug.

[WhiteRider]

The problem with releasing so many builds is that everyone would be testing different builds and reporting bugs that have already been fixed, as well as the risk of introducing other problems. Alpha versions are being tested and a new build will be released as a public beta when they are happy with it.

[MrBug]

The problem with releasing so many builds is that everyone would be testing different builds and reporting bugs that have already been fixed, as well as the risk of introducing other problems. Alpha versions are being tested and a new build will be released as a public beta when they are happy with it.

I am not convinced that this would be the case. As I mentioned, many PT3 users play poker just about every day. Consequently, I would suspect that the main reason why most users would be using an old version now would simply be because they are unaware that a newer version exists, which is not particularly surprising when we have no idea whether we can expect something new within a week, a fortnight, or a month (Build 1 to Build 2 - 1 day; Build 2 to Beta 12 - 2 weeks; Beta 12 to ?? - ??). For bug reporting, one could include a preliminary paragraph (for support tickets) or a sticky (for the forum) imploring users to ensure they are using the latest build ("stable") or beta ("unstable", but with some new features/fixes) before reporting any bugs. Perhaps isolating bugs could be faster this way.

[WhiteRider]

For bug reporting, one could include a preliminary paragraph (for support tickets) or a sticky (for the forum) imploring users to ensure they are using the latest build ("stable") or beta ("unstable", but with some new features/fixes) before reporting any bugs.

This does not work.
Not everyone reads stickys before posting, we get the same issues over again, including those mentioned in stickys and FAQs.
Most people don't want to mess about with testing new builds, they just want to be told to use the new 'official' build.
If you would like to be part of the alpha testing you can PM Derek (APerfect10) and state your case for inclusion..

[MrBug]

Alright, that is probably fair enough. I suppose I had not thought enough about how quick some people might be to rant about problems that affect them. Thank you for your prompt replies.