<p>When using 3rd party libraries/components in production projects, are you rigorous about using only released versions of said libraries?</p>

<p>When do you consider using a pre-release or beta version of a library (in dev? in production, under certain circumstances)?  </p>

<p>If you come across a bug or shortcoming of the library and you're already committed to using it, do you apply a patch to the library or create a workaround in your code?</p>

[{'answer_id': 22705, 'author': 'Tundey', 'author_id': 1453, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1453', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': "<ul>\n<li>Yes. Unless there's a feature we really need in a beta version.</li>\n<li>There's no point using a beta version in dev if you aren't certain you'll use it in production. That just seems like a wasted exercise</li>\n<li>I'll use the patch. Why write code for something you've paid for?</li>\n</ul>\n"}, {'answer_id': 22714, 'author': 'Julio César', 'author_id': 2148, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/2148', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>I've used beta libraries in commercial projects before but mostly during development and when the vendor is likely to release a final version before I finish the product.</p>\n\n<p>For example, I developed a small desktop application using Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2 because I knew that the RTM version would be available before the final release of my app. Also I used a beta version of FirebirdSQL ADO.NET Driver during development of another project.</p>\n\n<p>For bugs I try to post complete bug reports whenever there's a way to reproduce it but most of the time you have to find a workaround to release the application ASAP.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 22716, 'author': 'Forgotten Semicolon', 'author_id': 1960, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1960', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': "<blockquote>\n  <p>There's no point using a beta version in dev if you aren't certain you'll use it in production. That just seems like a wasted exercise</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Good point, I was also considering the scenario of evaluation of the pre-release version in dev, but I supposed that taints the dev -> test/qa -> prod path.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n  <p>I'll use the patch. Why write code for something you've paid for?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>What if it's not a commercial library, but an open source one?  What if the patch to be applied is not from the releasing entity (e.g. your own patch)?</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 22751, 'author': 'Nick', 'author_id': 1490, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1490', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>I use:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Infragistics (.NET WinForms controls)</li>\n<li>LeadTools (video capture)</li>\n<li>Xtreme ToolkitPro (MFC controls)</li>\n<li>National Instruments Measurement Studio (computational libraries, plotting, and DAQ)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I've found significant bugs in every one of these, so I try to limit their use as much as possible.  Infragisitcs is pretty good for what it is, and National Instruments is by far the best, although quite limited.  I would avoid LeadTools at all cost.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 250676, 'author': 'Community', 'author_id': -1, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/-1', 'pm_score': 3, 'selected': True, 'text': "<p>I am a big fan of not coding something when someone else has a version that I could not code in a reasonable amount of time or would require me to become an expert on something that wouldn't matter in the long run. </p>\n\n<p>There are several open source components and libraries I have used in our production environment such as Quartz.NET, Log4Net, nLog, SharpFTPLibrary (heavily modified) and more. Quartz.NET was in beta when I first released an application using it into production. It was a very stable beta and I had the source code so I could debug an issue and there were a few. When I encountered a bug or an error I would fix it and post the issue to the bug tracker or author. I feel very comfortable using a beta product if the source is available for me to debug any issues or there is a strong following of developers hammering out any issues.</p>\n"}]
['https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/22694', 'https://Stackoverflow.com', 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1960/']