Framework and backward compability. A question for Melda

[Frankie.T]

The idea to have the same name/version for a plugin is awesome because theoretically in 20 years from now with version "30" i can load a project made with version "16" while other plugins just call a different version with a different name, so you must have the older version installed.

Anyway this bring up on my mind a question. Is your framework and the way you code made with backward compatibility in mind or there are chances to have a broken project in case it was made with a old/very old version?

Thanks

[mevla]

Not only that, but in 20 years from now the OS support libraries needed might simply not be there for the older versions. At least on Linux. Should pretty much be the same in Windows and Mac unless the whole setup is virtualised.

[Frankie.T]

What it matter is to have backward compatibility. If for technical reason it should broke in the future, would be nice to have a different name like v2, so we can at least keep an older installer to use along newer ones, or any other kind of solution providen by Melda.

I don't know how that stuff works, but would be nice to be addressed somehow, and to have few words from them, cause they know all the technical stuff

[Frankie.T]

UP

[Hexspa]

Vojtech is very emphatic that backward compatibility is among his top priorities. Once in awhile, he'll override this and make a specific mention of it in the update release notes on the site. Nobody can predict 30 years from now - I've heard of surveys confirming this - but out of all the developers, your odds here of future support are higher, all else being equal.

[Frankie.T]

I understand no one can predict even a minute from now, that's understandable. Anyway what i'm ask to them, is if they care and tests backward compatibility. Because i also understand something technical or just a different decision can brake it, and it's maybe something they wanna do, and it's fine, but if bacward compatibility is important, they will just hold on the old version, and make the newer one such as "MTurboComp 2" so we can load the oldest version with the v1

[Starship Krupa]

I've been using MeldaProduction plug-ins for 7 years and they are among the ones that have never caused a bit of trouble in regard to opening old projects, despite the many, many updates in that time.

Backward compatibility with MeldaProduction, in my experience, means that the newest version of MWhatever will always work just fine with projects that were created with the oldest version.

It does NOT always mean that you can save settings and presets in the new version and then open them with the older version, although I must say, they do pay attention to that enough to warn the user if they make the change. I think v. 10 was the only one that broke that level of backward compatibility. Of course, they no longer support 32-bit plug-ins, but anyone who still really needs to use those should be familiar with that situation.

They keep an extensive archive of earlier installers in case you run up against some incompatibility or other. Then you can install from one of those, get your work done, and then go on to the upgrade.

I don't want "MTurboComp 2," I want the latest version of MTurboComp to open my oldest and newest projects, and that's what we have. I don't know how a developer could do it any better.

[Frankie.T]

When i ask about backward compatibilities, i mean open an older project with a newer version, and also open an older preset with a newer version. Everything in the meaning you wrote for your 7 years of personal experience.

I'd like to have MTurnoComp with the latest version too, but if for whatever reason a newer version of it would broken older project loading, i'd prefer v2. Just imagine you open an older project that wont correctly load with the newest version, so you have to uninstall it and instal the older one, but then you cannot work with other projects that were made with a more recent version, this would be a mess, so in this case have a different version helps. Ofc if they can manage to mantain backward compatibility is the best, but just in case this isn't possible a different version is the safest option imo

[Starship Krupa]

I'd like to have MTurnoComp with the latest version too, but if for whatever reason a newer version of it would broken older project loading, i'd prefer v2.

Well, sure, but you're talking about a hypothetical situation that a very conscientious developer has so far never let happen.

The absolute worst case scenario is that I'd have to take a screenshot of the settings in the old version and then manually enter them into the (entirely hypothetical) newly incompatible version. The work of a few minutes for each instance of the plug-in.

I will not lose sleep over this; MeldaProduction is about the last developer I can think of that would break things in this way. At the very least, Vojtech would do like NI did with Massive and build in a function to update our old presets to the new format. And hey, if a company like NI would do that, MeldaProduction surely would.

There are other, maybe worse issues with keeping unfinished projects around forever.

[Frankie.T]

The absolute case scenario is a mess, cause it's hard (or just impossible) to remember the version you used in an older project. Than you may want to keep using the latest version for your current project, so the worst scenario is to keep installing and uninstalling from older and newer version and this would be a nightmare.

That's mostly the reason of this topic, i know nothing about coding, and i'm definetly not in the Vojtech mind, that's why would be nice to have a thought about that from him, just to understand if this is something he take into consideration, while releasing newer version, or whatever. I think this is a topic that should be discussed/clarified

I know the ideal would be working on a project and then go to the next one, and this is usually the norm, anyway there are certain projects that for different reasons need to stay healthy along years

[MeldaProduction]

We try to keep a strict backwards compatibility.

[Frankie.T]

Thank you very much, that's really appreciated!!!