[dokuwiki] Dev Version v/s Stable release

Hi,

I'm planning to switch a few web site I maintain in custom PHP to be
dokuwiki based [because it rocks ;-) ].
Since I'll have to develop a few plugins for that, I was wondering...

Should I consider developing these against the stable version [~6 months
old] or the most recent dev snapshot?
Does it actually matter? Do plugins keep "forward" compatibility?

Also, is there any indication of about when a new version will be closed?

Thanks!
Stephane

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