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When will 4.4 be official?

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Cariboudjan
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When will 4.4 be official?

Post by Cariboudjan »

When will 4.4 be the stable version? It's been over a year now.
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jsmorley
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Re: When will 4.4 be official?

Post by jsmorley »

Good question. The team has had some real-life issues to deal with that has put some things on a bit of a back burner for a while, but I'm hoping that we can make some progress toward this in the near future.
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balala
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Re: When will 4.4 be official?

Post by balala »

Cariboudjan wrote: October 1st, 2020, 11:37 am When will 4.4 be the stable version? It's been over a year now.
But is this important? Knowing what jsmorley said above, I doubt it is important. From my experience a beta version is always as good as a so called stable final version. I never encounted problem with betas, recommend to use it as it would be a finaly version, it's same way stable.
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Cariboudjan
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Re: When will 4.4 be official?

Post by Cariboudjan »

balala wrote: October 1st, 2020, 12:36 pm But is this important?
For some reason some people refuse to use the beta version, which makes it hard when more and more people make skins 4.4 minimum to install.
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balala
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Re: When will 4.4 be official?

Post by balala »

Cariboudjan wrote: October 1st, 2020, 1:41 pm For some reason some people refuse to use the beta version, which makes it hard when more and more people make skins 4.4 minimum to install.
Yes, but you can use it. It's safe, I can assure you.
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Cariboudjan
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Re: When will 4.4 be official?

Post by Cariboudjan »

I'm aware of that. But other people aren't. Or rather refuse to use the beta. I can't control that.

A surprising number of people see "Full version" and think it is better than the beta version, or think the beta version is buggy or for developers only. They just refuse to use the beta no matter what you tell them.
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balala
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Re: When will 4.4 be official?

Post by balala »

Cariboudjan wrote: October 1st, 2020, 3:15 pm I'm aware of that. But other people aren't. Or rather refuse to use the beta. I can't control that.

A surprising number of people see "Full version" and think it is better than the beta version, or think the beta version is buggy or for developers only. They just refuse to use the beta no matter what you tell them.
Yep, but this is their own business. You create you own skin installer and if anyone out there can't install it, he can either update his Rainmeter or renounce to the skin. You anyway can't force him to use your skin, if he don't want. It's everyone's decision. I think doesn't worth to think too much about this...
In case of Rainmeter, the betas are stable and can be used with no fear, however indeed probably many are afraid of this.
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brax64
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Re: When will 4.4 be official?

Post by brax64 »

I too always use the beta version; if I'm pretty sure that I'm not using in a skin a specific feature that WILL require the beta in order to run properly, when I create the package I change the required version number to the last "stable" version, never had any issue yet...
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eclectic-tech
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Re: When will 4.4 be official?

Post by eclectic-tech »

brax64 wrote: October 1st, 2020, 3:55 pm I too always use the beta version; if I'm pretty sure that I'm not using in a skin a specific feature that WILL require the beta in order to run properly, when I create the package I change the required version number to the last "stable" version, never had any issue yet...
Yes, I also set the minimum version to the latest stable version when creating a RMSKIN package.

By default, the packager uses the version installed on your system, and that may not be what is required by the skin. This makes sense because you know the skin(s) work with the currently installed version.

But some skins may not work with the last stable release because of new features; so the end user can install the skin if they have the stable release, but will have issues using any new features that require the latest beta (a "broken" skin). :x

It is up to the author to change that value of the minimum required version to the oldest possible version that supports their skins so users are not prevented from using the automatic process of installing packages and have a working skin.

It is a little extra work that most people don't want to do, but this causes problems discussed here, which are avoidable if the author performs some "due diligence" on his creation. :)
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balala
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Re: When will 4.4 be official?

Post by balala »

eclectic-tech wrote: October 1st, 2020, 4:22 pm Yes, I also set the minimum version to the latest stable version when creating a RMSKIN package.

By default, the packager uses the version installed on your system, and that may not be what is required by the skin. This makes sense because you know the skin(s) work with the currently installed version.

But some skins may not work with the last stable release because of new features; so the end user can install the skin if they have the stable release, but will have issues using any new features that require the latest beta (a "broken" skin). :x

It is up to the author to change that value of the minimum required version to the oldest possible version that supports their skins so users are not prevented from using the automatic process of installing packages and have a working skin.
Very dangerous approach, exactly for what has been described. I think I don't recommend, unless the author has enough experience in working with Rainmeter. I do know you have, that's for sure, but all folks out there for sure have no and have to be extremely careful to not create an installer which on more systems even if is installable, can't be used.