[Meta] Create beta 1 release

There are some experimental things in dev as well, like:

• Generic entity processor: #1033202: [Meta] Generic entity processor
• Clear out values when source is empty: #1107522: Framework for expected behavior when importing empty/blank values + text field fix

These still need some finetuning/testing. I think that must be done first to not scare off the majority of users.

Then there are also some issues that are follow-ups of things that get in. I don't know these out the top of my head.

We should do this. As MegaChriz noted we have some things to sort out. Those issues should be link to this one.

I've updated the issue summary.

Hi - was wondering if #1107522: Framework for expected behavior when importing empty/blank values + text field fix should still be a blocker. It seems the patch was rolled into dev and there is some ambiguity on the functional spec of how missing values should be handled rather than faulty code. I realize there are many wanting to move deeds to stable but just wondering if the blockers/roadmap might be revisited ...

Frankly, I'm also wondering if I should use dev rather than alpha08 given so much work on the branch ....

Marked #2177965: Release a stable version as a duplicate.

@sonicthoughts
It's true that a patch for #1107522: Framework for expected behavior when importing empty/blank values + text field fix was committed, but it is still lacking tests. At this point, it's not certain if emptying values works as expected for every mapper that Feeds provides.
There are indeed many fixes in dev, you should use it if you need this fixes. Keep in mind that if you use the generic entity processor, configuration could get broken when you update Feeds later.

Hi Thanks @MegaChriz - appreciate the response/update.

I can see lot's of activity by folks to move feeds to a stable release. Please consider folks like myself who are system builders, not developers. It can get scary juggling patches and later facing config changes with updates of dev branch. I guess this is a broader issue with drupal module support but please have us mortals in mind when making choices to patch dev vs. making incremental releases as the former can require a lot of dev skill to support. Appreciate the efforts and responsiveness - and of course such a powerful module.

It's somewhat understandable, but really, folks understand that when they DL an alpha release that it still has issues and even experimental code in it. To go over 2 years without a new release is crazy and worse for site-builders who, in most cases, shy away from using -dev versions on any live site. Alphas are risky too, but I rarely use a dev version in prod. I may have to make an exception here because 2 years of fixes is a lot to miss out on...what about pulling out the experimental stuff if that's the primary concern?

just a note that ical dates will only work with alpha 8+ patch and NOT dev. See this comment: #2237177: Apply this patch to Feeds 2.0-alpha8 to fix broken date import

I agree that this puts site builders in a difficult position. They have the choice of using an alpha that is over 2 years old, or rolling the dice on the latest dev version, and then deciding whether to update it every time a commit happens. This is a very popular module, there are over 70,000 websites using alpha 8.

Is there anything I can test to expedite a stable release?

I've decided to release a beta1.

Things are very close to a stable release, API-wise I think we're pretty much there. Since we already keep backwards compatibility, there's no problem just biting the bullet.

@twistor
Good idea to make a new release! If it were me, I would have called alpha10 though. This is because when #1183440: Multilingual Feeds - Make field import language-aware lands, modules that provide field mappers need to be adjusted to provide language support.

@MegaChriz - perhaps yes, but given 91K installs it's pretty much in production already....IMO it is far more stable than many beta builds...