[gradebook2-dev] Sakai target version for developing tools

[Thomas Amsler]

We are trying to improve the gradebook2 development and setup process.
I would like to know how other tool developers in the Sakai community
handle the following:

Question:
What version of Sakai should we develop against?
The focus of this question is about maven dependencies, especially
[kernel, edu-service, ...].  We could develop against trunk or one of
the released versions. There are pos/cons for either choice.

Using trunk: (2.9-SNAPSHOT)
Pro:
- We would "support" the latest Sakai dependent libraries and structures
- ...
Cons:
- One has to build Sakai in order to get all the maven dependencies
- May need to reference libraries that have been deployed to Tomcat,
requiring the user to add a TOMCAT classpath variable besides M2_REPO
- ...

Using latest released version: (2.8.x)
Pro:
- We should be able to download all the maven dependencies from one of
the available maven repositories, and thus not requiring to build
Sakai first
- Fewer surprises w.r.t. changing dependencies
- ...
Cons:
- If dependencies in trunk change significantly, it would take some
time to adjust the tool as new versions become available.
- Undocumented development and setup process for institutions that
need to develop/run against trunk
- ...

Using the version that the application is QAed against: (e.g. in case
of gradebook2, that would be 2.7.x)
Pros:
- We should be able to download all the maven dependencies from one of
the available maven repositories, and thus not requiring to build
Sakai first
- Fewer surprises w.r.t. changing dependencies
- Smoother transition from DEV to TEST since we use the same version.
- ...
Cons:
- If dependencies in newer versions (including trunk) change
significantly, it would take some time to adjust the tool as new
versions become available.
- Undocumented development and setup process for institutions that
need to develop/run against a newer Sakai version
- ...

There are many more Pros/Cons than the ones that I have listed above,
and the ones that I have listed may not be valid. That's why I would
like to hear from the Sakai community about your experience on this
topic.

Thank you very much for your time.

Best,
-- Thomas Amsler