LeeBamber wrote:
Quote: "Dividing up the T1 and T2 is an interesting idea. Does anyone else see this as useful for them?"
Definately.
TIER 2
It would be great to have the Tier 2 stuff as a ZIP file, so that upgrading is a simple matter of replacing old files with new files
(without having to use a god-damn installer.)
TIP: Replacing files in itself is very simple, but with a tool such as "Beyond Compare" the task becomes a true pleasure, and using Beyond Compare you can see EXACTLY what has changed between releases. I highly recommend Beyond Compare to anyone who hasn't already used it.
TIER 1
Tier 1 upgrades would still propably need the installer approach, so
the upgrade process for Tier 1 development usually involves the following in any case:
BACKUPS
1. Backup existing installation - AppGameKit folders
2. Backup existing installation - The CodeBlocks IDE configuration
UNINSTALL
3. Uninstall previous version
4. Make sure AppGameKit folders were removed
REINSTALL
5. Install latest version
6. Fix Start Menu Shortcuts
7. Restore previous Tier 1 IDE settings
Plus... for my own personal taste, I also do the EditPlus programmers editor integration:
EDITPLUS INTEGRATION
8. Step 1, restructure help folders for to get context sensitive help inside EditPlus
9. Step 2, Update STX definition file (Syntax Highlighting)
10. Step 3, Update CTL definition file (Cliptext library)
SUMMARY
Yes, please divide up the packages to Tier1 and Tier2.
Most beginners will not need Tier 2 for the first couple of months after their introduction to AppGameKit, and once they move to Tier 2, they are unlikely to come back to Tier 1, so you might also save some bandwidth this way. But in any case you would be doing the Tier 2 developers a great service! (It's a pain having to do a complete reinstall everytime a new build is released.)
Cheers,
AgentSam