Improve docs experience for those not running the latest beta

[ruurd]

Is it possible to downgrade to 5.6 to make it usable for mere mortals that run latest Monterey?

[amartini51]

The version of TSPL on Swift.org always shows the latest version of Swift that's available in Xcode or in an Xcode beta. However, you can see both the Swift 5.6 and Swift 5.7 (beta) versions of TSPL on Apple Books:

https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-swift-programming-language-swift-5-6/id881256329

Under an older publication pipeline, when we published TSPL as part of the Apple developer documentation website, both the beta and non-beta versions of the book were available. Maybe we should turn this GitHub issue into a request to publish both versions again when we use DocC.

EDIT: Now that Swift 5.7 is out of beta, the Swift 5.6 version is no longer available; the link above takes you to the non-beta 5.7 book. Here are links to the two versions, for future comparison or reference:

• Beta https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-swift-programming-language/id1002622538?mt=11
• Release https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-swift-programming-language/id881256329?mt=11

[rtharston]

I agree with amartini51, it would be nice to have both beta and release docs available.

@ruurd, I understand you are referring to not running a beta (Ventura or Xcode), but in case you weren't aware, you can run Xcode 14 on Monterey as well (and it is now out of beta, if that was holding you back). :)

[amartini51]

Discussed again on the forum: https://forums.swift.org/t/72375

To have it written down, we've had the following things available over time:

• When TSPL was hosted on developer.apple.com, there were separate web versions of the book for beta and prerelease, separate ePUB versions in the Apple Books store for beta and prerelease, and an ePUB version on Swift.org for only the latest.
• When TSPL was hosted on Swift.org using its pre-DocC toolchain, there was a single web version for the latest. There were separate ePUB versions in the Apple Books store for beta and prerelease, and an ePUB version on Swift.org for only the latest.
• Currently, with TSPL hosted on Swift.org and built using DocC, there is a single web version for the latest. We're no longer able to build an ePUB version (see #2).