Joomla 1.5 Development Cycle Overview

For Joomla 1.5 we have adopted a three phase development cycle. The three phases are as follows:

• Alpha Phase
  - Refactoring and Development
  
• Beta Phase
  - Testing, Documenting and Fine Tuning
• Stable Phase
  - Stabilization, Public Information, etc.

These three phases are also known as Opening, Mid-Game and End-Game among project managers. As you can see each phase has a different main focus, this goes from development, to documentation and testing towards public information.

Alpha Phase

The alpha phase of the development cycle is the time in which we implement the features outlined on the roadmap and perform any necessary refactoring. Community input is minimal and restricted to testing forums and Standards & Guidelines Working Group input and discussion. The system can break for the new features we are implementing but care should be taken that other refactoring achieves a 75%-90% backwards compatibility rate. At this phase anything in the source tree can and likely will change as we search for the best methods of achieving our development goals. Most system testing is done by the developers themselves as they come across issues related to the framework changes.

We have separated the alpha phase into two distinct stages, and have deemed the Alpha 2 release the separation point for these two stages.

Pre-Alpha 2

This stage was for framework(core) refactoring and feature implementation. It was in this stage that the Joomla! framework was redesigned and refactored to provide a cohesive and extendable API for third party developers. Also, this is the stage in which the new framework features were implemented such as internationalization and an FTP filesystem layer.

Post-Alpha 2 [Also Called Pre-Beta]

This stage is for refactoring core extensions and user interface tweaks. With a more robust and extendable API in place, we should be able to remove redundant code and improve performance in the core components. This stage of the process signifies several things:

• We are now framework feature complete.
• Documentation effort on the API begins.
• Third party backwards compatibility testing on the framework begins.
• Core extension refactoring and user interface changes begins.
  

For these reasons, the Alpha 2 release is an important milestone in the development cycle. Also noteworthy for this milestone are some communication changes that we are implementing.

• The launch of this developer portal for third party developers.
• An IRC meeting will be held to inform and seek feedback from third party developers.
• Cross-working group coordination effort increases

By working closely with third party developers and keeping lines of communication open as we transition from alpha to beta phase we hope to be able to provide all necessary information and support to ensure that their extensions are compatible with Joomla! 1.5.

Beta Phase

The beta phase of development indicates a major milestone in the development cycle. At this phase we move from pure development towards testing and documentation. From a development standpoint, focus shifts from implementation to stability. At this point community input is extremely important and we increase our outwards communication towards third party developers. Together we analyze and solve breakages, improve performance and finetune the API where necessary.

Stable Phase

At this phase the codebase is considered stable and secure and any final bugs are taken care of as they come to our attention. It is during this phase of the development cycle that the software is packaged and released. Most attention goes into promotion and public information.

Feature Complete

There is a substantive difference between the framework being feature complete and the entire Joomla! install being feature complete.
The Alpha 2 release signifies that the API, and ONLY the API is feature complete. This means that it is the earliest point where a third party developer can start developing on the new API and expect it to remain stable.

Does it mean all bugs are worked out of the API? No, though we hope there are few.

Core extensions are not considered feature complete until development has reached the beta phase, signifying the end of major development work.