[sldev] Linden Lab Viewer Release Roadmap - 2007-01-14

[Joshua Bell]

We plan on releasing 1.18.6 RC4 tomorrow including a source code drop. 
The intent of this is to get non-viewer-auth related fixes out in the 
hands of RC users. We will NOT be releasing a 1.18.6 final viewer, however.

Between the return to XUI-based login UI and the changes we're making to 
the group chat code (details below), this makes 1.19 a more complicated 
beast. So please read carefully - I'll try and explain things from a few 
different angles: relative to previous discussion, relative to previous 
release, and what the actual execution steps are.

Also, I'm writing about just a fraction of what's going on in 
development at the Lab and focusing just on the viewer-side work coming 
out shortly.

== What's changed since I last posted ==

Previously we'd posted that 1.19 included three big buckets of 
viewer-side changes: (1) substantial number of miscellaneous bug fixes, 
(2) group chat moderation, (3) no longer auto-join group chats. Based on 
feedback from the SLDEV community we're revising those plans as follows:

* Auto-joining group chat will again be the default. This functions for 
all 1.18.x and 1.19.x viewers. An option will be introduced to 
not-auto-join chat in the 1.19.1 viewer.

* Part of the group chat moderation work requires new roles and 
messages, which leads to a wrinkle if a user with an updated viewer 
grants permissions to a user with an older viewer. Therefore we are also 
staging the deploy of this across the 1.19.0 and 1.19.1 viewer versions.

* The "return to XUI-based login" work also needs to be finished and 
incorporated into the 1.19.0 codebase.

* Since we've "unfrozen" the code, we'll probably let another change or 
two slip in - like Linux voice support.

== Tentative roadmap for 1.19 ==

In 1.19.0, relative to the last production viewer (1.18.5):

* ~80 bug fixes (~20 were in 1.18.6)

* Preliminary voice support for the Linux viewer (Can I get a "boo-ya!" ?)

* Infrastructure changes to enable moderated chat and making joining 
group chat optional

* Updated crash logger (was in 1.18.6)

* Age verification viewer side (was in 1.18.6)

* Block unsupported versions of Quicktime (was in 1.18.6)

We hope to have the server updates pushed out next week (Jan 22nd/23rd), 
as well as viewer RC0.

Which leaves these slated for 1.19.1:

* Moderated group chat (text and voice)

* Option to not auto-join group chat sessions.

(More is expected in 1.19.1 but that's a ways out now.)

== Work Items ==

To pull all of this off, we have the following underway:

* Final QA/pushing of 1.18.6 RC4
* QA on the re-implementation of group chat auto-join
* Work on a "restore XUI login" branch, plus QA and integration
* Work to split up the group chat moderation feature work into 1.19.0 
and 1.19.1 phases

We expect this all to be in the hands of our QA team in the next day or 
two, and we'll do a source drop as soon as we're able.