Shoutbox

I just wanted to know if there is any way of updating the installed scripts. I have a  bunch of them and the only method of updating them I know is manually checking on the internet to see whether or not a new version has been published.

Is there any more automated way of doing this? Or, if not, is it scheduled to be added in the future to MPL?

The ideal thing would be something like Firefox's extension manager (aka "Addons" since FF2), where Finding updates is just a click away.

quote:

---

Originally posted by pfc432
I just wanted to know if there is any way of updating the installed scripts. I have a  bunch of them and the only method of updating them I know is manually checking on the internet to see whether or not a new version has been published.

Is there any more automated way of doing this? Or, if not, is it scheduled to be added in the future to MPL?

The ideal thing would be something like Firefox's extension manager (aka "Addons" since FF2), where Finding updates is just a click away.

---

there is no way unless the script has a checker inbuilt sorry about that, and also i dont think that it should be a feature of plus

quote:

---

Originally posted by NanaFreak
[...] and also i dont think that it should be a feature of plus

---

Why shouldn't it???
Wouldn't it be great that every script specified a location to look for updates (like FFox extensions do) and by pressing a button (or scheduling the task) every script updated??
I mean, if this option even existed, I'm pretty much convinced that every script developer wouldn't think twice before setting the "update URL" in his script...

If you mean that it shouldn't be on plus's side but rather depending on each script, I have to say that I strongly disagree with that... it'll only keep this update thing decentralized, turning it harder for the user. And of course, there would be many scripts lacking any auto-update feature at all.

Anyway, thanx for the info...

quote:

---

Originally posted by pfc432
Why shouldn't it???

---

Because it might confuse some people if new features just suddenly appeared.. Or maybe if a bug accours with the new version, the person might get confused with the version number ect...

I think the best way if this were to be implemented is through plus! itself.  The way to do that would be to have a mandatory "version" field in the scriptinfo.xml and to be able to easily search the version numbers of all scripts in the script database.  Or at the very least it would be good if all the script in the scripts database were made to have this before being accepted, if MenthiX made this rule then it wouldn't be hard to make a script to do some automatic checking.

quote:

---

Originally posted by .OxY

quote:

---

Originally posted by pfc432
Why shouldn't it???

---

Because it might confuse some people if new features just suddenly appeared.. Or maybe if a bug accours with the new version, the person might get confused with the version number ect...

---

... or on the flipside the version the person installs may be buggy, have exploits and needs to be updated

quote:

---

Originally posted by .OxY
Because it might confuse some people if new features just suddenly appeared.

---

New features wouldn't "suddenly appear" though. There would be periodical checks (e.g. once a week or something like that, maybe even customisable?) for updates in the script database, and a window would pop up something like:

--------------------------------------------------
| The following script updates are available:    |
--------------------------------------------------
|                                                |
| [x] Screenshot Sender                          |
| Installed version: 4.1.1, New Version: 4.1.2   |
|                                                |
| [ ] Some Other Script's Name                   |
| Installed version: 1.0.0, New Version: 1.0.1   |
|                                                |
--------------------------------------------------
|              Install selected updates | Cancel |
--------------------------------------------------

Where you can select whether or not you want to install each update individually (with Check/Uncheck all options as well I guess).

Also there could be a small link or something to the script's changelog, so people could see what features have been added/removed in the new version.

And as for their being an update that has bugs in it, well this just means it is easier for the script to be updated and the bug to be fixed.

I spent ages on that ASCII window...

quote:

---

Originally posted by markee
I think the best way if this were to be implemented is through plus! itself.  The way to do that would be to have a mandatory "version" field in the scriptinfo.xml and to be able to easily search the version numbers of all scripts in the script database.  Or at the very least it would be good if all the script in the scripts database were made to have this before being accepted, if MenthiX made this rule then it wouldn't be hard to make a script to do some automatic checking.

---

True. Patchou and I have talked about this. He is thinking about adding auto-update for scripts to Plus, but the problem seems to be server load. Since the winning scripts were bundled with the Plus! installer a LOT of users have scripts installed. The servers are already very busy on new releases, adding auto-update for scripts to that means a lot more load. Keep in mind that auto-update for Plus! itself just needs to check the version of Plus! only, while auto-update for scripts on some systems needs to check the version for 10 or more scripts, and we're talking 10million+ of users each week.

I still think/hope eventually it will be there. Instead of checking a separate file for each script it could check a single XML file that lists the latest version for each scriptid, that would already decrease load on the file system a lot, although it will also make the file size to download bigger. PATCH!! JUST GET CiD TO DONATE A NEW HOT SERVER!!

quote:

---

Originally posted by .OxY
it might confuse some people if new features just suddenly appeared.. Or maybe if a bug accours with the new version, the person might get confused with the version number ect

---

I imagine it would work very similar to the auto-update for Plus! itself, people never had problems with that (AFAIK). I consider adding a changelog field to the scripts DB which could be linked to on auto-update windows. Updates for scripts will still be tested in advance before they are added to the scripts db, just like they are now. I know that doesn't guarantee a bug-free script, but like dt pointed out, in general updated scripts are better than the older versions.