Hi,

As I wrote to Clement a while back, this can cause confusion for both users and Ad-on Updater regarding version and compatibility conflicts.

Cheers,

Joseph

Well I'd like a feature where you can choose to update addons from either the nvda addon database or thee author spaciffic addons.

Or find a way for something to automatically pole updated releases pages for authors periodically to get updates.

Some updates like tony's addons have not got latest updates to 1.14 and while you can request them manually added to the addon files database surely we need more sources.

Now I realise the potential for misuse but there are somethings that are not even in the main database.

Some others have made other sources and tools but there really should be other ways to select other databases and other mirrors and users.

I mean they do it in linux several sources at once.

Not sure how security would work though.

Hi all,

A significant change is now being tested in Project Meteor in the form of a new try build: https://github.com/josephsl/addonUpdater/releases/download/22.07/addonUpdater-tryProjectMeteor20220715.nvda-addon

The biggest change (to be included in upcoming Add-on Updater stable release) is that disabled add-ons will not be updated by default. Depending on background add-on updates setting:

• Background updates on: NVDA will just ignore disabled add-ons altogether.
• Background updates off: disabled add-ons will be unchecked in add-on updates dialog (the one you get after checking for add-on updates). If you somehow check disabled add-ons and select "update add-ons," NVDA will ask if you wish to update disabled add-ons as updating them will enable them after restarting NVDA. If you say "no", NVDA will return you to ad-on updates dialog where you can uncheck disabled add-ons.

Cheers,

Joseph

Hi all,

Major change to nightlight plan: after reading feedback from the community, I decided to scrap a major part of nightlight mode: on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, Add-on Updater will not touch automatic update check setting. Proceeding with the original plan can create confusion for users and does not align with precedence. An updated try build is now available to apply this change: https://github.com/josephsl/addonUpdater/releases/download/22.07/addonUpdater-tryProjectMeteor20220714A.nvda-addon

Cheers,

Joseph

Hi all,

I'm delighted to announce the last try build in Project Meteor series: https://github.com/josephsl/addonUpdater/releases/download/22.07/addonUpdater-tryProjectMeteor20220714.nvda-addon

This build includes mostly bug fixes. Please review the changelog and notes before installing this try build.

Changelog:

• Updated translations for some languages.
• Internal code tweaks.
• NVDA will no longer present add-on update toast messages if no updates are available (traced to a logic error).
• Refinements to restart NVDA dialog.
• On Windows Server 2008 R2/2012/2012 R2/2016/2019/2022 systems, NVDA will no longer enable automatic add-on update checks; you must now check for add-on updates manually on server systems. Consequently, automatic add-on update check checkbox is removed from Add-on Updater settings panel if running on Windows Server.
• The ability to configure add-on update notification (dialog or toast) and background updates is now restricted to Windows 10 and later provided that NVDA is actually installed (not a portable copy) due to technical limitations. This also fixes an issue where if using portable copy of NVDA, you may find that NVDA tools menu will say "review add-on updates" without explanation.
• You can now enable update checks for Add-on Updater. Note that until the next stable version of Add-on Updater is released, no updates will be shown.

Additional notes:

• Although this is a try build, do try using it on production environments and provide feedback so I can refine the add-on.
• Regarding disabling automatic add-on update checks, this change applies to Windows Server systems for now. This change will apply to Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 in January 2023. Manual update checks will remain as part of "nightlight mode" I mentioned in June; there is a second part of nightlight mode which will require some work to implement: disabling updating to development releases on older Windows releases altogether. I plan to not restrict users of older Windows releases from seeking updates from different sources. As I mentioned last month, I advise folks to upgrade to supported Windows releases now (ideal), as soon as possible (strongly recommended), or before January 2023 (last resort). I will talk more about nightlight mode in an upcoming post.

Cheers,

Joseph

Hi all,

Add-on Updater Project Meteor July 12th build is now available: https://github.com/josephsl/addonUpdater/releases/download/22.07/addonUpdater-tryProjectMeteor20220712.nvda-addon

I expect this will be the second to last try build in Project Meteor series. This try build includes four changes - two are visible, two I won't talk about on this forum (if you are curious, contact me privately please).

Changes:

• Command-line options: Add-on Updater can now take in additional command-line options if available. This feature requires an installed copy of NVDA 2022.1 or later. In fact, in order to take advantage of this feature and other updates, an upcoming release of Add-on Updater (scheduled for later this year) will require NVDA 2022.2 or later.
• Switching add-on update sources: if you do decide to change add-on update sources from Add-on Updater settings panel, NVDA will ask if you really wish to do it. If you say "yes", the new source will be used, otherwise the old source will be used. Note that if you say "no", Add-on Updater settings panel will not reopen (this is actually a bug in NVDA).
• Experimental features: shhh, not here.

IMPORTANT: if you do install this try build and happen to tell Add-on Updater to check for Add-on Updater updates, you will be asked to "upgrade" (actually downgrade) to 22.07. I plan to fix this in the next (and final) try build (later this week).

Cheers,

Jseph

Hi all,

I'm delighted to announce the immediate release of Add-on Updater July 11th try build: https://github.com/josephsl/addonUpdater/releases/download/22.07/addonUpdater-tryProjectMeteor20220711.nvda-addon

This try build packs many goodies, including two new Add-on Updater settings and features some of you have only dreamed of. With this build, Project Meteor is complete - all I need to do is refine it based on feedback (speaking of feedback, feel free to use this try build in production environments; note that this is not a stable build yet).

Changes:

• Various internal code changes.
• Update add-ons in the background: yes, you read it right. If you are using Windows 10 and 11, you can now ask Add-on Updater to check for, download, and install add-on updates all on its own (in the background). A new checkbox named "Update add-ons in the background" is available to configure this feature. If you are an iPhone or Android phone user, this is similar to automatic app updates. Note that not all add-ons are optimized for it - some add-ons will present an installation dialog when updating them, and I have asked other add-on authors about what to do. The other change is that when you do review add-on updates, a simple list view will be presented instead of a list of checkboxes to tell you that add-ons were updated, and when you close add-on updates dialog, you will be prompted to restart NVDA. In case you are wondering if NVDA will tell you about automatic updates, yes it will via toast notifications.
• Update source: building from July 8th try build, a new combo box named "Add-on update source" was added to Add-on Updater settings panel to let you select which source Add-on Updater should use when fetching add-on update information (I'm using Spanish community add-ons catalog to test this feature). For most users, community add-ons website (default source) should be sufficient unless you are using add-ons not listed there; the add-ons community members do welcome new add-ons to international community add-ons website hosted by NV Access and the NVDA community.

I expect to release one last try build in Project Meteor series later this week with bug fixes and refinements based on community feedback. If things go well, all the features I have described in this thread will become part of Add-on Updater 22.08.

Thanks.

Cheers,

Joseph

Hi,

In theory, yes. There are several downsides, however:

• Varying update metadata formats: different add-on update sources return update metadata in different formats. For example, the metadata format used by Spanish community catalog is different than that of community add-ons website. At least this is mitigated by telling Add-on Updater to standardize around a common format independent of any source and telling update check protocols to return things in a standard way.
• Latency: because websites are hosted around the world, it takes time for NVDA (specifically, Python) to connect to different sources and obtain what it needs. NVDA will actually appear to freeze when opening websites using Python, which is not the experience users want; fortunately, developers wrote workarounds such as using multiple threads to keep NVDA responsive even when a connection is being made to a remote location.
• Code complexity: although I do my best to write clean code as much as possible, when dealing with things such as accessing multiple locations at once, it becomes important to think about how complex this task can become. Indeed, coordinating multiple threads (one thread per add-on source) can introduce unforeseen bugs such as freezes and unresponsive user interface.
• Metadata conflicts: suppose you connect to two add-on sources at once, and both sources return information for the same add-on. One source says whatever version you have is the latest, while the second source may offer a newer version but incompatible with whatever NVDA version you have. Now you connect to a third source, which offers an older version of the same add-on which is compatible with the version of NVDA you have. For humans, the answer is to stay on the current version, but for computers, it becomes a question of which strategies they can learn from programmers. This is made complicated when we throw in compatibility information to the mix.
• Future of add-ons repositories: without going deep into details, NV Access is researching (or did research) a way to host add-on metadata in a central location. Once that becomes a thing, the add-ons community will be advising folks to submit to the new central database.

Hope this explains a lot.

Cheers,

Joseph

Hi all,

I'm delighted to announce the immediate release of two try builds with fixes and a feature folks have only dreamed of:

• First try build: https://github.com/josephsl/addonUpdater/releases/download/22.07/addonUpdater-tryProjectMeteor20220708.nvda-addon
• Second try build: https://github.com/josephsl/addonUpdater/releases/download/22.07/addonUpdater-tryProjectMeteorNVDAEs20220708.nvda-addon

These builds are identical apart from one major thing: where add-on update records are coming from. Yes, you read it right: if you are using the second try build, Add-on Updater will gather update information from Spanish community add-ons catalog, sometimes known as nvda-addons.org. While Add-on Updater will default to using community add-ons website (first try build), it is now possible to obtain add-on update data from other sources through a concept called "update check protocol" - a collection of tasks Add-on Updater can perform to check for updates from a variety of places. The reason for these two try builds is to test this feature thoroughly with different sources and because there is no setting in Add-on Updater settings panel to configure which source Add-on Updater should use. I do plan to add such an interface soon. Also, if you are using NVDA 2022.1 or later, you will be able to specify which source to use from the command line (coming soon).

Please remember that try builds are not really meant for production environments, but I'm giving you permission to test today's builds in stable environments for testing purposes. I hope to release a stable version of Add-on Updater with these exciting changes in August at the earliest.

Cheers,

Joseph

Hi all,

A major bug was discovered with July 4th try build resulting in inability to download add-on updates under some circumstances. This is now resolved in July 5th try build: https://github.com/josephsl/addonUpdater/releases/download/22.07/addonUpdater-tryProjectMeteor20220705.nvda-addon

Cheers,

Joseph