DCP-o-matic 2.18.0 is on the way

[carl]

Hi all,

I just uploaded DCP-o-matic 2.18.0 beta 1 (also known as 2.17.20) which I hope is close to being a good start to the new "stable" series of DCP-o-matic.

It would be very much appreciated if you could test it and report any problems either here, to the bug tracker, or directly to me at carl@dcpomatic.com

All the best,
Carl

[IoannisSyrogiannis]

I would jump right on it, if I was to be able to have it in parallel to the 2.16 version.
That change of the database, for one, makes me hesitate.
Did I write it? GREAT!

[carl]

I see - I don't know how heavily you use the cinema/screen database but you could decide to only edit it from 2.16. Then periodically you could delete the 2.17.x database and it would be recreated from the current state of the 2.16 data.

I know it's a pain... I'll give some thought to how this could be improved, but I suspect it's rather a lot of work.

[IoannisSyrogiannis]

My main additions nowadays are KDMs, rather than cinema/screens. I guess that in periods of festivals etc. that could be the other way around.
I understand you mean installing 2.16. again, when an addition is necessary.
I haven't imagined that deleting the SQL database will force DCP-o-matic (2.17+) to fetch info from the old file. That makes me wonder if one could merge config.xml with the database, or export from one version only the relevant info and import to the other.
I use that feature once in a while for FileZilla clients that I have on different systems/platforms. There, one can choose to export or import file transfer lists, FTP server's credentials etc. In that way, if importing or exporting/importing-fetching was an easy implementation, one could keep an old version on an irrelevant machine (that doesn't need to encode nothing, so it could be a laptop or something).
Or, if there was a force-merging choice, without having to delete, that could work with old backups of configuration. Even older than 2.16, couldn't it?
I am totally in the dark, though, if that is going to be much or little work.

[carl]

I understand you mean installing 2.16. again, when an addition is necessary.

Ah, I see, the re-install of 2.16 is also a concern - are you using Windows?

[IoannisSyrogiannis]

Yes. On the main transcoding computer, where I mostly work with DCP-o-matic.
The secondary is Ubuntu and I have an installation on an ancient MacBook, but I don't care much about that last one. I still keep it up to date in terms of DKDMs and screens, though. Better safe than sorry.

Edit:
It is a concern, given that the 2.18 beta version is... beta. I would like to try it out, but going back and forth for jobs I don't want to risk anything may be a hustle.
It took me a couple of weeks to go from 2.14 to 2.16 as well, in order to find a good time to make the user interface transition, but there is more to keep in mind in this case.
Don't get me wrong, I am really happy that DCP-o-matic is moving forward.

[Carsten]

In Windows, you can have both versions installed at the same time. Don't know how well prefs work together. Carl - is there a new prefs version going with 2.18. as well, as there was with 2.16?

[carl]

Yes, it should be the same as 2.16 (i.e. prefs get copied to 2.18 and then 2.18 updates its own copy). Do you just install each version to a different place in Program Files ?

[carl]

It is a concern, given that the 2.18 beta version is... beta. I would like to try it out, but going back and forth for jobs I don't want to risk anything may be a hustle.

Understood, it's always difficult in these situations. Don't risk anything important!

[Carsten]

Yes, it should be the same as 2.16 (i.e. prefs get copied to 2.18 and then 2.18 updates its own copy). Do you just install each version to a different place in Program Files ?

I usually did a regular install for a previous version. When I install a new one and want to keep the old one, I usually just rename the folder of the previous install to something like DCP-o-matic_2_16_86 and then install the new version to it's default installation folder. I then create new shortcuts manually to all necessary executables in the renamed folder. And expect that all goes well with regards to prefs (and usually it does).