Stack file format change in 2.7 - BACK UP!

[J. Landman Gay]

Rob Cozens wrote:
> Jacque, et al:
> 
>> It isn't any different than when HyperCard made the change
> 
> 
> Unless memory fails me, yes it is: that upgrade was free to owners of 
> the previous version.

I believe the 2.x update happened when HC was moved to Claris and we had 
to start buying our copies. At any rate, in order to provide the new 2.7 
features, the file format had to be expanded. There was no room left in 
the old format to do what was needed. Scott Raney had to do the same 
thing several times in MetaCard too, and his updates were not free. I 
never saw any complaints about it; of course, that was a somewhat 
different user base than we have here now.

> 
> Do you intend to distribute all future stacks you release publicly in 
> v.2.7+ and leave people who continue to work in v<2.7 out in the cold?

I rarely release this kind of stack (almost all my work is NDA) but if I 
did, I would save stacks in 2.6 format for at least a while. It's a 
minor thing.

> Does anyone but moi feel it's ironic that RunRev v2.7 can create apps 
> for "Classic" Mac OS, which has been off the market for years, but can't 
> create a file readable by RunRev v2.6, which was being distributed a few 
> weeks ago?

I'm not sure what else they could have done. The old file format was 
full and needed to be extended. What would a 2.6 engine do when it hit 
all the new code in a 2.7 file?

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com