I am doing a new project that requires some (a lot of) python, and it seems smartest to make the switch now from 2.79 to 2.80. But I’ve had bug issues with early switches to new versions before, and my work right now is rather vulnerable to unforeseen delays. So how is the bug situation and overall stability looking for 2.80 right at this moment? Not throwing any shade or being distrustful, I just need to make the most informed decision I can.
And yes, I am downloading and testing 2.80 myself, too, but I would really like a broader insight on the issue. If there are real bug issues, I’d rather wait with this upgrade till the next project…
Problem is that trying to solve bugs may generate new bugs, or trying to simplify, clean-up bugs may also broke features.
That is why there is no warranty that evolution will be favourable or unfavourable.
Although amount of bugs will decrease, there is always a risk that a bug breaking your workflow may pop-up.
So, best practice when trying to use a build from buildbot is to end production with the one used to initiate this production.
Keep in mind that what you will produce this way may end up unusable in future official release.
Blender is a free open source software. Every user have access to same info about bugs than developers.
Just take time to browse bugs on developer.blender.org and try to identify the ones that could prevent you to accomplish what you want.
https://developer.blender.org/maniphest/project/2/type/Bug/
Making a general statement would not be helpful.
You could be a newbie destabilized by the first bug encounter or at contrary, don’t realize that 2.8 have bugs.
You could be an experienced user knowing workarounds but slowed too much by those ones.
I would say its no better or worse than 2.79. However its still beta and beta is never a good idea when doing any sort of production work.
I do think its is slower and seems from my experience to be more prone to locking up or crashing, but that’s the nature of beta.
I would wait until at least RC1 or indeed until the official release.
Since November, I have been using 2.8 for all kinds of production work… Best damn idea I ever had. I’ve had a handful of crashes here and there in that time. Now in July, it is as stable as any 3D app I’ve used in over twenty years.
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It’s pretty damn stable
Had a crash today when moving an empty, that’s it and I’m throwing quite a lot at it (asset creation for a game trailer) it’s holding up very nicely - apart from the known issues like undo slowness and edit mode performance, which I’m not really encountering since the project is split up into many “light” scenes.
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My use of 2.8 shows it fairly stable, which should be expected with the Release Candidate being Thursday.
Editmode is still in dire need of a speedup, and undo can be a bit pokey, but everything else is running fine. Cycles got its min bounces parameter back, so it helps with indirect lighting in scenes.
Sooooo… Just ran it. Crashed before even starting up, now my work computer runs at 1/3 speed even after reboot. I may hold out for the full release… Not sure…
What are your hardware specs, as that sounds rather unusual for Blender to fail like that and actually cripple your machine?
If your machine is crippled, then it could be you had failing and/or damaged hardware in use well before 2.8 was launched.
No, it had no problems before this, including with 2.79. It’s a very standard laptop I use only for basic work. Old HP Pavillion.
Backing up some stuff, then I will try again.
Did you download/install any extra files, make registry changes, etc, trying to fix something? Or is this truly a bog-standard nothing extra install?
Painfully standard, I believe.
So, tried it again. This time it only crashed, my laptop is still seemingly okay. Got a “Display driver stopped responding” right before Blender just froze up with nothing but a blank window, so not even enough for a bug report.But I’m clearly waiting for the finished version before migrating… Sad face…
What is your gpu?
It’s just a laptop, not sure if it even has one? It’s an AMD A6 processor.
It might not meet the minimum requirements for 2.8
Are they THAT different from 2.79??
They trimmed off a lot of low-end hardware, such as the onboard hd5360 igpu in your processor.
You’re going to need to upgrade if you want 2.8.
It’s a bummer, but they gotta draw the line somewhere, and your 8 year old system didn’t make the cut.
Well, there goes my migration to 2.80. 2.79 does the job fine, anyway.
Maybe hit up your financier friends for a hardware advance 
Not risking that. Plus, my laptop has run every iteration fine, I hope they fix it in the final cut. Seems silly if not.
If the financing passes, maybe an upgrade.