Went to the download page to download 5.1.5
It says to use 5.1.5 in the section under the Windows download links, but the links are for 5.1.4.
Is 5.1.5 hidden some place?
The 5.1.5 release is posted here. Currently it is only the raw code. In the days to come, the volunteers that build the installers will post those files there and on the Download page.
Besides the admonition to make backups before installing an upgrade. in the early days Patience is another key term to practice.
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The Windows build may need a few extra days this time. There was a request that some compatibility experiments be done with different versions of the dependencies. Some that will take some time.
Although that would normally wait for a major release in stead of a maintenance release, there’s a desire to get a broad public test before then. And the newer would offer some opportunities to test some other developments.
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I’m find with waiting. I understand. However, I think the announcement that Nick Hall made was misleading in conjunction with the messages on the download page. I respectfully suggest that the announcement should have been directed to developers that the base code was ready for the platform build.
The message on the public download page should not have been posted until all the builds are done or updated as they occur.
Just making suggestions for the future. I know you are hard working volunteers.
The project was started in Linux and you may notice that there are nearly endless Linux distributions in the list.
The announcement is oriented towards the Linux community that tends do their own builds… without reliance on installers. And that isn’t developers. That’s their end-user community.
And there are instructions for macOS and Windoze users who want to do their own manual updates too. (Personally, I find those instructions more convoluted that I care to try when an installer is only days away. That convoluted process is why a few users decided to start experimenting with building installers. Strictly speaking, the installers are outside the scope of the Gramps-Project.)
This awkwardness of ragged installer releases only exists for a short period a week about once a year.
Maybe an idea, when an announcement is made, maybe include a sentance that says that Windows installer will come later in some way?
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I have learned from past updates that the Windows takes a few more days. This is 100% NOT a problem. I am SO grateful for all our wonderful volunteers! I do have to agree with this though. One line saying “hold on windows users. your update takes a bit longer!” I drove myself batty the first time an update hit for this very reason. And we do have new users all the time.
When the announcement is made, NONE of the installers are available.
The Linux flatpak, the Windows All-In-One (32bit & 64bit), the Mac .dmg image, the Mac homebrew, the MacPorts, the PortableApps for 32bit Windows, the Chocolatey NuGet… these are ALL among installers that roll out as people find time (or when requests grow).
Thanks to the maintainers on making this version available! I have to say, I spent at least 5 minutes searching for downloadable installers on the GitHub page and also on the Gramps project site after reading the announcement. Since more than a few Gramps users were confused by the announcement, it’s worth considering a slight modification to the release email:
Original: “You can obtain Gramps 5.1.5 from the GitHub release page.”
Proposed: “You can obtain the source for Gramps 5.1.5 from the GitHub release page. As installers become available they will be announced and made available on (link to page).”
Another suggestion: while every change and contribution improves Gramps, not every change is meaningful to end users. So how about grouping changes like this into a “Under the hood changes” topic at the end:
- Fix probably alive function unit test.
- Use GitHub Actions to run continuous integration checks.
Looking forward to installing 5.1.5 when available.
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absolutely true. Some of us, me included are using the wrong words, but the idea is the same. Any new user, is going to see that announcement, follow the link, and become very confused. I don’t need the extra instruction at this point as I have used Gramps for several years and understand. I was very confused at first AND when I had to switch to Windows from Linux due to a hardware issue. One sentence should be easy enough to include as to what the release really is and to be patient for the installers. It would stop these kind of threads
I agree the announcement could be clearer. But some additional suggestions might be helpful.
Python is always “source code”. There isn’t a “compiled” program. The installers just arrange the source in the locations that each OS can recognize and adds the prerequisites for that OS… again in Python source.
So how do you say that for the layman?
Oh. And the lists of fixes are generated by some GitHub tools. Maybe there’s some grouping functions there?
Frankly, I’d rather Nick not dread
lots of extra work composing a release notice. It is a dis-incentive to doing a release! So if there are NOT grouping tools, maybe we can handle wading through a messy list?
Ok, I’ve modified text on the blog and announcement here to read:
You can obtain the source code for Gramps 5.1.5 from the GitHub release page. As installers become available they will be on the same release page.
If needed we can modify text for the next release announcement,
Thanks for the suggestions,
Sam
Volunteer Website administrator
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honestly, it should be simple,
"THIS release is for VERY experienced users and our wonderful volunteers, who spend so much of their time keeping GRAMPS going for all of us. This is so they can work their magic and make installers for the majority of the users. Please be patient as the rollout for installers takes a while and will be announced when ready for the lay user"
perhaps my wording may not be technically accurate, but it gets the point across.
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Besides a thumbs up, this deserves written endorsement. I think it captures the sentiment very well.
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Along with the Mac installer Gramps-Intel-5.1.5-1.dmg , @prculley has posted the 2 Windows versions
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Reminder that this 5.1.5 release is strictly fixes.
Any 5.2 enhancement patches that you might consider vital would still need to be manually applied.
Is this posting Facebook any better?
Gramps 5.1.5 has been released and installers for the various platforms are becoming available as volunteers find time to create them. So far, installers are posted for Debian/Ubuntu, macOS (Intel) & MS Windows (64bit & 32bit).
After installers are posted as “Assets” in the GitHub repository, they are linked from the Downloads page of Gramps-Project wiki.
MAKE A BACKUP BEFORE YOU DOWNLOAD THE 5.1.5 INSTALLER!!! Don’t become a user who lost work because you deleted things while doing some digital housekeeping.
Until an updated installer is available for your platform, you can manually update your Gramps installation. Note that this is a maintenance release with no new features (except for previously missing international translations)
Screen capture of the GitHub Assets list follows:
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Thanks all. Got the new Win64 installed and all is working well.
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i wait for the .deb file, download it, make sure i have a backup, and let dpkg do its thing. i guess that’s an installer for the Linux i have (Xubuntu 18.04 LTS bionic).
i’d like to see Gramps support being installed in the user area. i’ve seen many office setups where users are just using an X server and all logged into a shared central machine. depending on usage patterns and number of people, this can end up saving a lot of money. larger setups would need to limit the number of apps installed and/or have long wait times. i used to run one of these but fortunately it was kinda small (20 users) that i could easily honor most install requests. even then, i always suggested installing in their home directory. some apps still assume their data is in /etc, /usr, or /var.
this could be an issue with network managed PCs, too. i don’t know how Windows does this, but if your work place allows staff idle and/or break time to use the computers, installing apps that expect to be admin installed could be an issue.