Which SL Viewer version to use?

[Jaylinbridges]

Perhaps this information is hidden from us peons, but I would like to know what version of the SL Viewer is the latest now?  

The Release Notes page shows five versions presently available.  Default is listed as 6.6.1.572458, and is also named 6.6.1.572458 - Maintenance2 , Wednesday, June 29, 2022 on it's page of changes.  Is this the Default for everyone now, and if not why is it called the Default viewer?  (Never mind that Maintenance2 is also listed for 6.6.2.573065 - Maintenance2, Thursday, July 7, 2022 - why give different versions identical titles?)

Do all the newer versions of Maintenance* only have the new features for each version, or are they cumulative?   

6.6.2.573372 - Profiles  Wednesday, July 20, 2022 is the latest version, called "Profiles".   Does Profiles version contain all the new features and bug fixes of the other versions?   Why is this not made clearer?  What version should I be using today?

I have always used the so called Beta versions, but when there are 5 of them, all with different release dates, which version is complete enough to use as the default viewer?

Edited July 21, 2022 by Jaylinbridges

[Henri Beauchamp]

Maintenance viewers got bug fixes over the current ”default” viewer. There are several ”maintenance” branches in the works, and the QA process decides which one will be merged in the next ”default” viewer version and when, maybe together with one of the RC viewer branches (such as the Profiles one), that contain additional features (legacy avatar profiles floater for the Profiles viewer, to replace the silly Web profile floater that no serious TPV wanted to adopt since it was so lame and slow).

To see if a given ”maintenance” branch is interesting for your particular use of SL, see its release notes: the  ”Resolved issues” list tells you what bugs have been solved and still exist in the current default viewer.

It is true, however, that the release scheme of LL's viewers is rather opaque and hard to follow (even for TPV developers). For example, while there is a Repositories page that, in theory, gives you the list of the active branches together with a link to their code repository, all links actually point to the root of the git repository (instead of pointing to the corresponding git branch), meaning no one (but LL) can tell what ”Maintenance”, ”Maintenance2”, and ”Maintenance3” do correspond with in the git (”DRTVWR-544-maint”, ”DRTVWR-548-maint-N”, ”DRTVWR-565-maint-P”, in that order or not, or even some of the many ”SL-*” branches ?... Who knows ?!)...

In the past, the various viewer branches (maintenance and project viewers alike) were given nicknames that were easy to remember and follow, instead of those meaningless and confusing branch numbers... I wish LL would again give such nicknames to, at least, important branches (i.e. maintenance and project/RC viewer branches).

Edited July 21, 2022 by Henri Beauchamp

[Lucia Nightfire]

The latest release viewer is always on this page: https://secondlife.com/support/downloads/

[Jaylinbridges]

3 hours ago, Lucia Nightfire said:

The latest release viewer is always on this page: https://secondlife.com/support/downloads/

Yes the same as Release Notes says is the Default viewer.  But if you look at the Release notes for 6.6.1.572458 you find this below, with no mention it is now the Default Viewer.   And I have found many SLViewer users are still running an older version: Second Life Release 6.6.0.571939 (64bit).  So is there no more forced upgrade to the latest Default version now?

6.6.1.572458 - Maintenance2

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

64-bit Windows

32-bit Windows

macOS

Release Notes

Maintenance Makgeolli

As with all our Maintenance releases we have fixed more crashes. You all have some very interesting hardware configurations out there!

Additionally this update includes updates and tweaks to some UI that we hope makes ease of use better in world

[Solar Legion]

The page body text for the Default Viewer has not been properly updated to reflect its current status as the Default.

All other Viewers listed are for testing new features/fixes (often in isolation from each other) - they can be ignored unless you wish to give them a whirl.

[Ardy Lay]

I have often wondered what the delay is between promotion of a Release Candidate to Release and the demotion of the previous Release to Blocked.  Is the delay consistent or variable?  Is any potential variability based on feedback or is it just done when somebody gets around to it?  I can imagine a "soft promotion" being used for a while when QA indicates it's a good idea to let the roll-out go slowly.  I have seen other publishers do this when low uptake of the Release Candidate didn't get them a lot of feedback leaving them shy about the promotion.

[Theresa Tennyson]

On 7/21/2022 at 9:17 AM, Jaylinbridges said:

Yes the same as Release Notes says is the Default viewer.  But if you look at the Release notes for 6.6.1.572458 you find this below, with no mention it is now the Default Viewer.   And I have found many SLViewer users are still running an older version: Second Life Release 6.6.0.571939 (64bit).  So is there no more forced upgrade to the latest Default version now?

 

Imagine you're working in a small office with a high degree of staff turnover. At any given time there will be around five employees, one of whom has been promoted to supervisor. If each supervisor used to be named something like "Bob" but changed their name to "Supervisor" when they got promoted, how would someone who was familiar with the company but not around when the promotion happened know what person actually was promoted?

[Jaylinbridges]

3 hours ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Imagine you're working in a small office with a high degree of staff turnover. At any given time there will be around five employees, one of whom has been promoted to supervisor. If each supervisor used to be named something like "Bob" but changed their name to "Supervisor" when they got promoted, how would someone who was familiar with the company but not around when the promotion happened know what person actually was promoted?

I fail to see how this analogy has anything to do with my questions.   When a new default SL Viewer version was released in the past, most logging in with an older version would were forced to upgrade before they could log in. This was not the case for the present default viewer version.  There are no assumptions that a user must make. 

A new user has no choice but to use the default version.  

Or maybe you are trying to say SL has such a high turnover rate that no one knows what version is the default, because Bob got promoted or something and hasn't figured out what his job is yet ??

The Default version (still called Maintenance 2) Release Notes has not yet been updated, and the fixes listed do not list all the cumulative changes that the default versions have in the past.  

 

[Theresa Tennyson]

30 minutes ago, Jaylinbridges said:

I fail to see how this analogy has anything to do with my questions.   When a new default SL Viewer version was released in the past, most logging in with an older version would were forced to upgrade before they could log in. This was not the case for the present default viewer version.  There are no assumptions that a user must make. 

A new user has no choice but to use the default version.  

Or maybe you are trying to say SL has such a high turnover rate that no one knows what version is the default, because Bob got promoted or something and hasn't figured out what his job is yet ??

The Default version (still called Maintenance 2) Release Notes has not yet been updated, and the fixes listed do not list all the cumulative changes that the default versions have in the past.  

 

The LL viewer typically has multiple "release candidate" versions in addition to the "default" viewer. They are usually separate threads that may go through multiple versions before they're chosen to be the default viewer. They will have version numbers for each build, and then a verbal description of each thread. Most people are given the "default" viewer, but certain numbers of users are randomly assigned one of the "release candidates" to test them.

Personally, I intentionally use one of these release candidate viewers to test them. For instance, I'm currently using viewers in the "Maintenance3" thread. If I see that the default viewer is now labeled "Maintenance3" I can know that thread is finished and can start in a new thread if I like. If it isn't, I can wait until the thread I'm in is eventually updated to include the default viewer changes. It's the version number that controls things - when the release candidate I've been using is promoted there's no reason to have my viewer re-download it when it becomes the "default." If all the release notes were re-labeled "Default" when they were promoted you'd have no easy way of knowing what project they were part of.

Have you started re-using the LL viewer after not using it for quite a while? There have been "release candidates" instead of a single "beta" for years.

[Wulfie Reanimator]

On 7/21/2022 at 4:17 PM, Jaylinbridges said:

Yes the same as Release Notes says is the Default viewer.  But if you look at the Release notes for 6.6.1.572458 you find this below, with no mention it is now the Default Viewer.

What happened, probably, is that "6.6.1.572458 - Maintenance2" became the new "Default," and that's why the page has that title.

After that, Maintenance2 moved on and is currently version 6.6.2.573065.

On 7/21/2022 at 4:17 PM, Jaylinbridges said:

And I have found many SLViewer users are still running an older version: Second Life Release 6.6.0.571939 (64bit).  So is there no more forced upgrade to the latest Default version now?

Not all updates are forced in the LL viewer, you can change it in your viewer settings. (Preferences > Setup > Software Updates)

My version is still 6.5.3 because there hasn't been a mandatory update.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Wulfie Reanimator

[Jaylinbridges]

11 hours ago, Wulfie Reanimator said:

What happened, probably, is that "6.6.1.572458 - Maintenance2" became the new "Default," and that's why the page has that title.

After that, Maintenance2 moved on and is currently version 6.6.2.573065.

You will note that the Default viewer is now named Default, and not Maintenance2.  But they still have a new and different Maintenance2 in the Release Notes. They need to update the old Maintenance2 to Default.  Apparently what they name a Release candidate is not important and should be ignored, and just use the Build numbers:

[Jaylinbridges]

13 hours ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Have you started re-using the LL viewer after not using it for quite a while? There have been "release candidates" instead of a single "beta" for years.

I have been using Firestorm and the LL viewer for the past 11 years.  I use Firestorm for everything useful, my businesses, entertainment, games and exploring.  I use the SL Viewer to help newbies and oldies who's underpowered laptop with 8GB memory on Win11 and integrated graphics cannot handle the latest bloated Firestorm loads without 10 fps and crashing every 20 minutes...

If you had read my early posts here you would not have to ask me if I knew about release candidates.  I  have always installed the SL release candidates and the default SL viewer, whatever version the person I am helping is using.  

[Wulfie Reanimator]

46 minutes ago, Jaylinbridges said:

You will note that the Default viewer is now named Default, and not Maintenance2.  But they still have a new and different Maintenance2 in the Release Notes. They need to update the old Maintenance2 to Default.

Yes, I understand. I'm not sure how to put it into simple words, but this process is very simple in a Version Control System.

1. "Default" contains whatever the latest distributed viewer is. The one you get from the main download page.
2. "Maintenance2" contains new work that's being worked on by LL.
3. "Maintenance2" becomes ready for release.
4. "Maintenance2" is pushed on top of "Default". At this moment, "Default" and "Maintenance2" are separate but completely identical. "Default" is still used on the download page.
5. "Maintenance2" gets updated with new work from LL. It's still called "Maintenance2", and its version is now newer than "Default" (latest release).

This is generally how software updates happen in a development environment. The different code branches don't get renamed, they're just copied over to the main release.

Whether or not the title of the release notes is intentionally called "Maintenance2", it simply means that whatever changes were just released, came from "Maintenance2". And yes, the version/build number is generally more important than whatever they name it at any point in time.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Wulfie Reanimator