Why ESP-IDF is always way behind ARDUINO environment

[Zeni241]

I was surprised to find out that MQTT is not available in current stable version 3.1.2 (or 3.1.3) of ESP-IDF , though it is available in latest version.
When we can expect to have MQTT in stable version?
What are prerelease versions? Can I use them safely in production?
I used MQTT in ARDUINO environment months ago. I wonder why ESP-IDF is always way behind ARDUINO environment. Is ARDUINO environment is the preferred one for ESPRESSIF?
Is there some guide to use MQTT with 3.1.2. I am interested in stable version as this is the version used by PLATFORMIO, and I don’t want to leave it just because of MQTT.

[ESP_cermak]

Hi Zeni241,

About using mqtt with idf prior to 3.2:
You can follow the instructions here https://github.com/espressif/esp-mqtt/t ... OR_IDF_3.1 and checkout the tag `ESP-MQTT_FOR_IDF_3.1`.
This version however has some issues, which have been fixed for latest idf. MQTT was added to idf in 3.2, so that once 3.2 is release that will be the stable idf with mqtt.

[Zeni241]

Thanks a lot for your quick response ESP_cermak. I think I will use 3.2 branch as I hope it will be released sometime soon . Is 3.2 is the same as master branch? I hope at the time of release, it will have full working MQTT, HTTP SERVER and all that is available in arduino environment and we are so used to those libraries .

[ESP_cermak]

No 3.2 is not the same as master! Please see here https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/tree/release/v3.2

[Zeni241]

Thank you. Any tentative date for release of 3.2?

[ESP_Angus]

In addition to the useful links Cermak has given, there's an explanation of the different IDF branches (master, stable releases, release branches like release/v3.2) here:
https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp ... sions.html

We're currently in early stages of testing ESP-IDF v3.2 but we don't have a release date, yet.

(The short answer to the general question is that Arduino currently tracks the IDF master branch, not the stable releases. Arduino for ESP32 is not tested as thoroughly as IDF releases.)

[Zeni241]

Thanks ESP_Angus.
For the benefit of any one following this thread, I copy lines from pages you referred.

If a required feature is not yet available in a stable release, but you don’t want to use the master branch, it is possible to check out a pre-release version or a release branch.

In stability terms, using a release branch is part-way between using master branch and only using stable releases. A release branch is always beta quality or better, and receives bug fixes before they appear in each stable release.