Whats the difference between the stable and development releases, and which one should I use?
The library is normally released along two different trees, called stable and development. The stable tree is a branch off the main line, which typically only sees bug fixes; almost all new development occurs in the unstable/development releases. The primary issue is not stability of the program (bugs of course do occur, and are more likely to occur in code that is more in flux), but rather stability of API and ABI. In particular, you should not expect any level of ABI stability between releases on the development branch. API changes may be made without notice. Feel free to send comments on API changes, or API problems, to the list. If you want to ship a binary that is usable out of the box on a Linux distro that ships botan (most do), or you want to ensure you’re not having to track a moving target, you’ll probably prefer using the stable releases. If you want to get the latest features, the development releases are the obvious choice. If you’re building an application that will embed
