Today's Viewer update (4.0.2.310349)

[ChinRey]

Is there anybody who is able to explain what today's viewer update really was about and why it was a mandatory one?

Except for one seemingly minor point, the release notes (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Release_Notes/Second_Life_Release/4.0.2.310349) are identical to the ones for the update eight days ago (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Release_Notes/Second_Life_Release/4.0.2.310097).

[ObviousAltIsObvious]

the main release viewer right now is 4.0.1.310054, you can always check what is the release version at http://secondlife.com/support/downloads/

because you are using a release candidate for the HTTP project and not the main channel, all updates are treated as mandatory. http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Supported_Viewers

Warning: Please note that all Second Life Release Candidate, Beta, and Project Viewer updates are mandatory.

 

[ChinRey]

Thank you. I didn't actually know I was in a release candidate viewer. I suppose that explains it.

[Nalates Urriah]

In PREFERENCES->Setup you have the option to select how viewer updates are handled. The default being 'Install automatically'.

Just under that is an option labeled: Willing to update to release candidates.

Once running a release candidate (RC) you are part of the Linden's testing effort. These viewers are being debugged and new versions with fixes are often rolled out. The main purpose of the viewer version is in the release notes. Individual fixes to the version are not mentioned because they are often things like a missing semi-colon or other typo or some minor mistake. Those fixes do not add features or resolve bugs. So, no time is spent explaining them. What would a note mean to  users about a comma being in the wrong place at line #10244 mean to us? Why explain what that mistake did?

That type of techy detail information can be found in the build system. There is a viewer release feed for the Lab at bitbucket. You get esoteric comments like: "Removed EDU builds for this project via BuildParams change until we can fix TC packaging"

There is an Open Source Meeting Monday morning where you can ask Oz Linden questions. If time permits he may answer off-topic questions (meaning other than open source). But, he is not all knowing. So, often he doesn't know enough detail to answer your question. 

There are other user groups where you can ask questions. See: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:User_Groups

These groups are hosted by Lindens. They are knowledgeable on the goup's main topic. They are people that like working with the user community. As best I can tell such participation is voluntary on their part. The groups are less a service of the Lab than they are a service project by individuals that work at the Lab. The Lab allows them the time to participate. But, the Lab does restrict what information they can discuss. So, Project Bento had been ongoing for some months before it was announced and Lindens could start discussing it. So, while we may get hints something is up... the Lindens are good at keeping secrets.