Patches!?!?!? We don't need no stinking patches!

[Lee Thompson]

I don't mind having patches rolled up in the installer but to keep the same versioning is... not good. Something needs to show that it's revised, build number.. minor revision number... something.

Otherwise we'll think we're running the latest stuff but we aren't (which also will make bug reporting more difficult since you guys won't know WHICH 3.4.8 we're running).

If you really want to keep the "3.4.8", I'd say add a fourth number for a build number or patch level.

(Should also probably do a md5 or similar hash on the installer, we can use that too to tell if it's changed - and also just a good idea to verify a proper download.)

For example:

NextPVR (as of June 25th 2015):

Code:

NPVRSetup_3_4_8.exe
25,311,154 bytes
md5: dbc16d720b0d5e7295a388d2fd4c255c

[gEd]

I also agree that having an incremental build is much easier for everyone concerned but we do need a way of identifying the new build (maybe build date in the file name) but preferably an incremental build number. How this works probably depends on now Sub has source code environment setup.

The traditional approach was along the lines of major.minor.fixpack.hotfix where:

Hotfix for emergency stability patches
Fixpack release is just defects only (no new functionality)
Minor release when new features/functionality are added.
Major release for significant product changes / new capabilities

A change log is important as well so that people can check if they need to update or not.

[johnsonx42]

No one is suggesting that the way it's being done this time is the best way or that it's the permanent solution. I've been a bit busy lately (among other things, I was managing a little league majors baseball team and also umpiring little league games whenever I wasn't busy with my own team; I'm now umpiring all star games most evenings and on Saturday), so I was not getting really on top of the patches being released, and then sub would update the installer just about the time I was finally getting around to doing my self-appointed job.

The patch list itself has become less critical in recent years. Gone are the days when a version of NextPVR ended up with 50+ patches requiring replacement of pretty much every significant program, dll and filter. Many NextPVR releases (particularly the 1.5.xx releases) were all but unusable without at least a few very critical patches despite the efforts of the testing crew (of which I am now part of, and we still miss things).

For the most part now, the majority of users can run the released version as-is with no patches at all. I think this is also why sub is re-rolling the installer when he fixes something somewhat critical - he doesn't want most users, particularly new users, to have to install and then find patches, even if I were keeping up with the list (not his words, that's just what I think may be the case).

In think the patch list and cumulative patch .zips were indispensable for the first couple of years of NextPVR, and it was a service I was happy to provide as I benefited from the use of this fine software. However now I think it may not be worth the bother, even as the bother has grown less, and my interest in doing it has waned.

[gEd]

It is clearly the case that the number of patches are reducing significantly as the program becomes more mature and (as you day) the need to maintain a patch list less critical than in the past.
The service you have provided in the last few years has been extremely useful so thank you for devoting so much time to it and for doing it so well.

john

[Reddwarf]

The patch for European users using Schedules Direct is not included in the newest installer....

[Redwingsfansfc]

Well I think you guys rock, and since it's not a paid service, or paid app - if you were to number them backwards with heiroglyphs I wouldn't have a problem trying to figure it out. Keep up the awesome sauce work.

[johnsonx42]

there are a small handful of patches since the latest updated installer, but I'm not going to bother tracking them down now as a new release of NPVR is forthcoming in the next few weeks.