Hello everyone,
Hi AirVPN staff.
I am planning to write a short audit of parts of the AirVPN software code for a modest private newsletter of developers dedicated (also) to examples of open source software good and bad design. I encountered some problems with "Eddie" for Windows, Linux and MacOS, for example the versioning confuses me in no small way.
In the world of "VPN" services for individual consumers AirVPN is a rare example of a company that develops and delivers free and open source software, so I would love to understand a few issues I met as well as the weak and the strong points of this activity from a development point of view and source code examination.
Issues I'd like to understand:
Eddie's changelog does not distinguish between stable, alpha, beta, RC and discontinued versions (Eddie for Android changelog does distinguish)
Several versions disappear mysteriously and it is difficult, for the user, to verify what happened to them (check 2.21.0 > 2.21.7 for example). As far as I see they remain unavailable on any repository, but they are on the announcement messages and on the changelog. However, some other versions, even extremely old, remain available
Other versions are listed as "beta" in the forum (check for example 2.22.0, 2.22.1, 2.22.2, 2.24.0, 2.24.1, 2.24.2) or even "experimental" (!) on the official download web pages, but on the changelog they are listed without "beta" or "experimental" label.
Some versions that are declared initially as "beta versions" or "experimental" from the download web site become "stable" versions without changes in code and versioning.
So, my questions, if/when you have the time to answer in public (not related to Eddie for Android or AirVPN-Suite of programs but only on Eddie for Windows, Linux and Mac):
can you please tell me what software versioning scheme and development model are being used?
why Eddie for Android and the AirVPN-Suite of programs for Linux follow a canonical and clean versioning and development cycle while Eddie for Windows, Linux and Mac do not?
why various Eddie beta or even experimental versions for Linux/Windows/Mac, in pre-built packages too, when launched on a system, do not show "beta" or "experimental" label, on either the GUI or the LI, preventing the user from understanding at a glance that she's not running a stable release?
I will be glad to share my findings and opinions on this forum, for the 2 cents they are worth, when I have clarified the above issues I don't understand.
Thank you!
I.