Stable releases

[Scott Randby <srandby@gmail.com>]

While I've used Org's development version in the past, I stopped doing 
that due to my failure to learn how to use git (no time) and other 
issues. Now, I only use the stable releases. But the latest 8.3 release 
doesn't seem so stable to me, so I'd like some clarification about what 
the Org maintainers mean by a stable release. Perhaps this is too vague, 
so let me explain a bit.

Normally, I wait many months before upgrading Org to a new stable 
release, but when 8.3 was released, I upgraded right away (from 8.2.10) 
since I have a new machine on which I installed Emacs 24.5. I read 
through the release notes for anything that might give me problems and 
didn't see anything.

When I started using 8.3, I discovered that the behavior of commented 
headlines had been changed---a change with which I disagree, a change I 
could not find in the release notes, and one which forces me to alter a 
huge number of files. It seems I missed the discussion about commented 
headlines on the mailing list. This is due to my limited knowledge of 
elisp and programming in general, a gap which makes it difficult for me 
to follow the more technical discussions on the mailing list. While it 
has been explained to me that the change is a feature, I consider it to 
be a serious bug since it is not backwards compatible.

Another issue I had with 8.3 is the deletion of the 
org-latex-with-hyperref variable, something I could not find in the 
release notes (maybe I missed it). I understand that having Org insert 
\hypersetup{...} details is the most desirable situation, but I fail to 
see the harm in keeping org-latex-with-hyperref for those of us who 
needed it in the past. Yes, I figured out a fix, but this is a fix that 
forces me to stick with an outmoded way of doing things, and so I 
consider this deletion to be a bug.

I do understand that all software has bugs, and that everyone working on 
Org is doing so voluntarily (thank you so much for your wonderful work). 
But I was very surprised to find that the evaluation of table formulas 
didn't work in 8.3.1. I could see something like this happening in the 
development version, but it is somewhat mysterious to me how such a bug 
could make its way into a stable release.

I guess what I want to know, and maybe there is no answer, is how long 
should I wait before upgrading to a stable release? Org is by far the 
most important piece of software I use (I hate it when I can't use Org), 
and bugs (which I know can't be avoided) make it hard, even impossible, 
for me to get my real work done. If there is a way for me to minimize 
encountering bugs, I will appreciate a description of that way.

Scott Randby