From MyWiki

Notes for people running alpha (development) builds of Miranda

From time to time, the developers or Miranda release testing builds, compiled from the "bleeding edge" code. Advanced users are encouraged to run these builds to help with testing new features and eliminating bugs. However, development builds can be very unstable at some stages (e.g. when major new features or changes are introduced)

Obtaining alpha builds

1. Alpha builds (or development snapshots) of Miranda are posted at the development build forum. They always contain a recent build of tabSRMM.
2. Recent tabSRMM builds can be downloaded here. They are built from trunk code and therefore you should only install them when using a Miranda alpha build.

When using them, you should:

• backup everything - your entire Miranda folder and all your profiles (.dat files).
• carefully read the announcement for that build.
• Be aware that things can break horribly. Some plugins may not work at all, some older plugins may become incompatible and so on... You get the idea.
• use only plugins which come with that build. tabSRMM and Clist Nicer are always included in development builds and you should use these versions instead of the stable ones which you can download on the file listing.
• post bugs to that thread, but please make sure to give enough information. Also, do not post bugs which are not related to the core or the included plugins. If one plugin, which is working fine with the stable build, is causing a problem - disable it and check whether the issue persists before reporting it.

The ongoing development of Miranda 0.8 will break with a few things. Some older plugins may become completely useless and won't even load any longer. If you cannot live without such a plugin, do not use development builds, or install them parallel to a stable build so you can use both.

Absolutely make sure, to backup your profile(s). Save your .DAT files to a safe location. Do not mix plugins from a development build with a stable core and vice versa. You are asking for troubles should you do so. This especially applies to standard plugins, like contact lists, message windows, database drivers and protocols.

Development builds are targeted at experienced Miranda users and developers. If you are new to Miranda, it is probably a bad idea to use them. The few new features they introduce are usually not worth the troubles you can experience when using such builds. If you still decide to use them, follow the corresponding forum thread^[1].

Release frequency

There is no fixed frequency for alpha build releases. Usually, they are posted once a week, but in case of major ongoing changes, it can be much longer for the next alpha build to appear. Do not rely on the "the next build, next week will fix it" paradigm, as it may not work . Always keep a stable version to work with, in case something goes wrong.

References

1. ↑ development forum for alpha build releases

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