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What is the future of Lime?

  • alorenc
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2 years 10 months ago #216387 by alorenc
What is the future of Lime? was created by alorenc
Will the LS4 version be finally stable and is there a final estimate of when it will be.

As I can see for Yii 1.1, support is valid until the end of 2021
www.yiiframework.com/release-cycle

I don't know what version of Yii the LS4 is based on, but I can see the LS5 is already mentioned. If the LS4 version is dropped in favor of LS5, will it be backwards compatible?

And what if the LS4 / LS5 are still not stable enough. And LS3 will lose Yii 1.1 support? This is important from the point of view of software implementation for customers requiring a high level of security and application stability.
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2 years 10 months ago #216394 by jelo
Replied by jelo on topic What is the future of Lime?
You posted your question in the LimeStore section. Perhaps someone can move this thread to the development section.

While your're waiting for an official statement by LimeSurvey GmbH, there might be more questions around the future of LimeSurvey by others.

LimeSurvey version 5 will be not much different than LimeSurvey 4. It's more about technical debts and requirements of dependencies like Twig and PHP.

We will see new requirements. The change is already happening in LS4.
E.g. PHP 7.x
github.com/LimeSurvey/LimeSurvey/commit/...a1535b3d8ad322f95d33

PHP 8 is around the corner. So Yii, Twig etc. will all need to be checked, modified or upgraded, to still play all together.

In my view LimeSurvey 5 will contain no main feature update in comparison to LimeSurvey 4, but also not break your current themes or surveys. But internally things will change and since LimeSurvey follows the semantic versioning concept, they will have to change to version 5.

But that is only my educated guess.

The meaning of the word "stable" for users
www.limesurvey.org/forum/development/117...ord-stable-for-users
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  • DenisChenu
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2 years 10 months ago #216400 by DenisChenu
Replied by DenisChenu on topic What is the future of Lime?
Moving to Yii 2 is needed,
We talk of this , but we need before to fix internal old issue and make a lot of separation af all code.
Hope we can before end of 2021 …

Assistance on LimeSurvey forum and LimeSurvey core development are on my free time.
I'm not a LimeSurvey GmbH member, professional service on demand , plugin development .
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2 years 10 months ago #216401 by DenisChenu
Replied by DenisChenu on topic What is the future of Lime?
Moved to future feature ?

Assistance on LimeSurvey forum and LimeSurvey core development are on my free time.
I'm not a LimeSurvey GmbH member, professional service on demand , plugin development .
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2 years 10 months ago - 2 years 10 months ago #216409 by ollehar
Replied by ollehar on topic What is the future of Lime?
Depends on how you define "stable". There are at least two ways we use internally:

* No risk of data loss during usage (we think LS4 is there now)
* Less than 30 bug reports per month (LS4 is there, but needs more time still)

30 bugs might sound much, but LS is a big system, and most bugs are not blocking.

LimeSurvey 5 is needed for the Twig library, and to support PHP 8. That's the only reason.

LS3 support will last 2021 out. I believe LS5 will be as stable as LS3 within some months.

LS3 has around 20 bugs reported per month since 2020.
Last edit: 2 years 10 months ago by ollehar.
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  • alorenc
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2 years 10 months ago #216421 by alorenc
Replied by alorenc on topic What is the future of Lime?
As for me, stable, i.e. safe in production, with long-term support (LTS).

Because currently, even on the official website, it is not recommended in a production environment, and if not, for some reasons?

Because I can use 4.x privately. However, when it comes to the client environment (for corporations), it has strict security requirements. I think that even with the purchased support, switching to version 4.x is not recommended at the moment? Even though the number of reported problems is comparable to version 3.x.
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2 years 10 months ago - 2 years 10 months ago #216422 by ollehar
Replied by ollehar on topic What is the future of Lime?
Hm, we didn't discuss yet which version will be the next LTS. I guess whatever is in master branch at the end of the year?

We just now changed the download page and removed the "Unstable" tag for LS4. We will add the "Stable" tag for LS5 after maybe one months or so? When it's battle-tested and we feel safe we didn't miss anything.
Last edit: 2 years 10 months ago by ollehar.
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2 years 10 months ago #216428 by DenisChenu
Replied by DenisChenu on topic What is the future of Lime?
Did you use plugin ? If yes : don't update to 4.X now.

If not, except some specific template system ro javascript workaround : i think it's safe to upgrade on the next release.

Assistance on LimeSurvey forum and LimeSurvey core development are on my free time.
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  • alorenc
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2 years 10 months ago #216440 by alorenc
Replied by alorenc on topic What is the future of Lime?
Yes, I use plugins, but only the official ones in LS3. We have a few dedicated plugins written for the client and I know that after the update they will definitely need to be verified.

Until 4.x is marked as LTS, I cannot upgrade to this version.
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  • ollehar
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2 years 10 months ago #216442 by ollehar
Replied by ollehar on topic What is the future of Lime?
If you want to stay on LTS, that's perfectly fine. :) That's why it exists.
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2 years 10 months ago - 2 years 10 months ago #216459 by alorenc
Replied by alorenc on topic What is the future of Lime?

We just now changed the download page and removed the "Unstable" tag for LS4. We will add the "Stable" tag for LS5 after maybe one months or so? When it's battle-tested and we feel safe we didn't miss anything.
I do not know if I understand correctly that "stable" will appear after about a month on the LS5 version? did you mean LS4?
Last edit: 2 years 10 months ago by alorenc.
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2 years 10 months ago #216460 by ollehar
Replied by ollehar on topic What is the future of Lime?
As of next week, LS5 will replace LS4. The only difference is PHP8 compatibility and increased requirement to at least PHP 7.2.
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