When using 3rd party libraries/components in production projects, are you rigorous about using only released versions of said libraries?
When do you consider using a pre-release or beta version of a library (in dev? in production, under certain circumstances)?
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?
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.
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.