Vala 1.0?

Yes is time to consider a Vala 1.0 release. Vala 0.34 code generator and bindings support LTS versions of GTK+ 3.22 and GLib 2.50. Next stable version of GTK+ will be 4.0 and GLib 2.x, but they have to traverse through 3.9x versions and any GLib 2.x on the way. Reaching that point we can consider Vala 2.0 release.

Traditionally a new Vala version is released along with GLib and GTK+, with bindings updates, from them and other projects. Some times, is necessary to change some Vala syntax or implementations, like threats, in order to be in sync with current GLib/GObject/GIO features. Because this, may we can consider to increase Vala API each stable version of GTK+.

In order to reach Vala 1.0, may we should identify stoppers bugs before to go. Some of them can be related to GNOME Builder, but may is not a real problem is you don’t use it for Vala development. I really would like to file, find and send patches for some of them, producing warnings at C compilation, for a better experience.

A road map could be stated at Vala’s Wiki, in order to track that stopper bugs/features to fix/implement before 1.0 release. This will mark a good stand point for any developer using Vala.

Debian is around corner. It supply Vala 0.34, then it should be considered, and backport fixes, as a LTS version.

Author: despinosa

Linux and GNOME user, full time, since 2001. Actual maintainer of GXml and contributor to other projects mainly on GObject Introspection support.

5 thoughts on “Vala 1.0?”

  1. Very exciting, if this is a true commitment!

    I would suggest reviewing bugzilla before thinking about 1.o, there are a few dozens of showstoppers being open for about 8 years now, among those a bunch of enhancement requests from yours truly. It would be _GREAT_ to see Vala reaching 1.0, but really, those open issues in the core language need to be tackled first.

  2. So is this reaction due to the negativ press about Vala being dead?
    Would be great to reanimate Vala and get it right.

    1. We are working on. Checkout latest Vala commits and checkout:

      http://paldo.org:8010/

      Most Vala projects are build there, even staging branch is there to find regressions on recent patch.

      Contributions have increased with bug reports, patches and commits.

    2. @Jason: What do you mean by “Vala being dead”? My Vala compiler (version 0.34.4) dates Dec. 5, 2016. Programming languages die in 3 months?

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