Squeak 3.10 now released!
21 March, 2008
Squeak version 3.10 has just been released onto the ftp server. This marks the completion of the development effort and gives Squeak developers an opportunity to check compatibility of packages and ports; work is still under way to produce final and fully packaged release files and once this has been completed, the squeak.org images on the Download page will be updated to point to fully packaged versions of this new release. Normal Squeak users are advised to wait for the packaged versions to be made available before upgrading.
The goal of the 3.10 release was to improve the process of making Squeak releases and to improve the quality of the code. The release team concentrated on improving the coverage of unit tests, in making Squeak more modular, and in getting rid of non-core and unsupported code. In addition, many bugs were fixed.
Highlights were:
– Removal of non-core code.
– Consistent use of Monticello to manage package dependencies.
– Use of Package Universes for managing package compatibility issues.
– Bug policy requiring all fixes to include unit tests.
– Image fully tested on Mac OS X Tiger, Windows XP and Simply MEPIS 6.5 Linux.
Thanks to the 3.10 release team including Ralph Johnson, Edgar De Cleene, and the many other Squeakers who contributed ideas, bug-fixes and support. Their work has given us an excellent release, and one which will be a great starting point for eventual progress to 4.0.
Discussions and planning for 3.11 is already beginning on the mailing list, including topics such as:
– the removal of major packages such as eToys and Nebraska to become loadable via Package Universes, and use of MinimalMorphic instead of the full Morphic suite.
– migration to the improved packaging and loading functionality of tools currently under development such as DeltaStreams or Monticello2.
– all code under old licences has been identified, and its replacement will be a priority.
If you have an interest in how Squeak develops in the future, now is the time to have your say!
For more information about this release, see the 3.10 page on the swiki or the welcome notes in the image itself.
[Edited to clarify status of this release]
The Weekly Squeak 
24 March, 2008 at 05:39
The FTP server link is wrong.
I think that WordPress might have mangled it.
24 March, 2008 at 14:30
Remove “http//” from the FTP server link above and you get a working link:
http://ftp.squeak.org/3.10/
24 March, 2008 at 18:01
Sorry about that. The link is now fixed.
1 April, 2008 at 11:31
Was this released or not?
The front page of squeak.org still shows 3.9 (as it has for over a year.) I check once every month or so to see if a new version is out but for a long time the project seems dead, and no progress. So this is welcome news if its true.
In addition to the zip files on the ftp site I guess I need a vm from the downloads page. There is a mishmash of versions there (OSX is only on 3.8beta! is this no longer developed for the last few years?) Or is funsqueak the version I must download? (but its only 3.10 alpha?)
1 April, 2008 at 16:23
Mando,
Yes it has been released after a lot of work and discussion! Most of the activity surrounding Squeak development is discussed on the dev mailing list and only the occasional highlight is reported here.
I know the web-team is in the process of handing over responsibilities at the moment, which probably accounts for the delay in updating the squeak.org information. Hopefully this will be resolved shortly.
If you’re interested in having the most up-to-date tools and fixes, you may be interested in Damien Cassou’s Developer Images, which package together lots of recent work – his main image is currently based on 3.9 but he has a beta version based on 3.10 available too.
Regarding VMs: despite the similarity, the VM version numbers are independent of the image versions, and differ between platforms, so for OS X, VM 3.8.18 is fine.
Cheers,
Michael