[ODE] 0.6 vs 0.5

[David Walters]

> I've been working with ODE 0.5, and I am currently looking to transition
> to 0.6. What are the major changes? in terms of bugs and new features?
>
> I've looked through the brief change log and emails. I don't see a
> compelling reason to transition to 0.6. Can someone familiar
> with the changes give me a better idea on the improvements.

Did you also look at this page? :
http://opende.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Changelog

It's probably the most comprehensive list of changes from 0.5 to 0.6
anywhere. Bear in mind that 0.6 came out a long long time after 0.5,
so there may be things that have changed that aren't documented
anywhere (obviously, if you find that is the case please feel free to
add it to the wiki).

Also something to consider is that it's very likely that a 0.7 release
will be out soon, and you may want to upgrade to 0.6 just so you don't
get left too far behind.

If 0.5 is working for you then obviously there's no urgent need to
upgrade - but there are some great new features in newer versions and
you may find they make your life easier. Also, a lot of requests here
that ask about 0.5 are usually best answered with "try 0.6", so you
may find that you're on your own support-wise. It's natural for anyone
who works on a project like this to forget the quirks of an older
version especially if they were fixed/improved in a more recent build.

Personally, when I moved from 0.5 to 0.6 I found it to be pretty
straightforward and my only changes required were to tweak some of the
contact and global CFM/ERP values due to a problem where my player
avater sphere would bounce forever after falling from off a ledge. My
usage of ODE was pretty primitive at that time though, so I won't
promise it'll be as easy, but I'd recommend giving it a try.

Regards,
Dave.