3.0-Alpha branch
@Anatoy-os announced that a 3.0 Alpha branch has been created in anticipation of the release of version 3.0a for testing purposes. I realize that the creation of the branch does not mean that the alpha release is imminent, but that the function is in place so that when 3.0 becomes stable enough the alpha release will happen. I have two questions regarding this.
First, where is the alpha branch? When previous versions have been released, a new version was created in the issue tracker with the understanding that the number could be changed if and when an actual release was made. When version 2.3 was released a 2.4 branch was created, that ended up being released as 2.3.1 then 2.3.2. The 2.4 branch was apparently killed, or at least removed from the issue tracker when it was decided the next release would be 3.0a (which I expect will actually end up being called 2.9 internally or something similar).
Second question. I like to test new versions in my normal course of doing my work, which I do almost every day, I've done this since 2.1 was in development. I haven't started testing version 3 at all yet, because I don't want to lose my work because the next build might not open it. I'm not willing to resort to copy and paste a 400 measure symphonic work to not lose my work. It would be too slow, not to mention that system items don't copy and it is too tedious to keep it straight. My actual question is, if there will be an announced decision that the internal format of a version 3.0 score is stable and expected to be able to open in the final 3.0 release. I do want to help test 3.0 when the time comes. My assumption is that a 3.0a score will be able to be opened by the final 3.0 release, but not necessarily in future versions when that eventually happens, but if one were to save a 3.0a score in version 3.0 there would be no issues opening it in the future.
Comments
The alpha builds are available at the same place as all other development builds
I can't answer your questions definitively, but I can provide my perspective based on my experience:
1) When we use the term "branch", we generally mean on GitHub, where the source code lives. It does not necessarily map to the versions available to select in the issue tracker. I don't actually recall there ever being a 2.4 branch, FWIW, although there may have been briefly. Not sure if this really gets at the meaning of your question, but the literal answer to "where is the alpha branch" is, GitHub - specifically, https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/tree/3.0alpha
2) I agree it is premature to start "testing" MuseScore by attempting to do real work. By all means test - download a build, play around, maybe open a copy of an existing score to see how it looks with the new layout or how larger scores respond. But don't expect to anything you create to be more than just a test. The only time we had an official release with a significant file format change like we'll be seeing for MuseScore 3 was MuseScore 2 (2.0), and the story was similar - scores created in nightly builds were not guaranteed to open in the final release until we got pretty close to release. There was no "alpha" for 2.0 that I can recall, but there were two betas, one about six months prior to release, another about three months later (give or take a month). My recollection was that we did state an intention to make sure that scores created in that second beta would be good to go for the final release. I can't remember if we actually made any changes that required special code to handle that or if it just sort of worked out that there weren't any more changes. But anyhow, my personal sense is that this "alpha" release is not close to the stability of the first MuseScore 2 beta (and that's why it is called "alpha" instead of "beta"), much less the second. But I know an awful lot of progress has been made in just these past few weeks since the release of 2.3.2. I do think it will be well worth your time to check it out when it becomes available, and your feedback on the new features / changes will be most welcome!
Sorry, I missed this topic since @mention doesn't work here :(
I'm preparing the announcement for 3.0 alpha "Release". It is not actual release, but it is just current state of MuseScore 3.0. The important thing is that MuseScore 3.0 is stable enough to use it for daily work. Moreover, it is twice useful for us to get feedback from common user scenarios.
Regarding file versions, the file version is fixed by now. All scores you create in alpha will open in official MuseScore 3.0 Release version.
In reply to I'm preparing the… by Anatoly-os
Thank you very much. I've been looking forward to testing 3.0 for some time now. You can expect much feedback.
In reply to I'm preparing the… by Anatoly-os
"The important thing is that MuseScore 3.0 is stable enough to use it for daily work" I not agree. I started to do real work with the 3.0 alpha release, but the program doesn't save some elements while editing, and also close unexpectedly, losing my work. I think the program is not ready for real daily work yet. I will wait for a beta release...
In reply to "The important thing is that… by mchiapparini
You may better try the most recent development build, quite a lot has changed for the better since that first Alpha release
In reply to You may better try the most… by Jojo-Schmitz
Or wait several days until alpha2 will be released :)
In reply to Or wait several days until… by Anatoly-os
That was my guess, but I thought I'd better let you announce it ;-)
In reply to "The important thing is that… by mchiapparini
But if you want the issues you found to be fixed, please report them - is something isn't being saved in some specific condition that you are running, we need to know about it! Otherwise the beta will likely have the same issues.
Also, crashes will generally not lose work, since MuseScore auto-saves every two minutes by default. Next time you start MuseScore, just say "yes" when it asks if you want to restore your previous session.