For as long as I had the Seafile sync client installed on Windows and MacOSX (since v4), it virtually never detected new versions or prompted for updates, not even when manually asking it to check for updates from the About menu.
I just did so again with the Mac sync client 6.0.7 and this time it didn’t say anything.
My customers and collaborators who are using my Seafile server never update their clients unless it automatically updates.
I think it’s important to detect new versions and prompt the user to update, or better yet - to automatically update (depending on server version or bugs fixed).
This is because we haven’t updated the version at the version check server. Because there are some small bugs found in the latest version that will affect some users. We will update the version check server later.
Sometimes it is better to let users use the old “stable” version. It does not say that the old versions don’t have bugs. It is that the old version fit into that user’s environment and workflow and do not trigger bugs.
My point was that it never really worked for the past couple of years. Why have a “check for updates” or “check for updates automatically” options if they don’t actually work? (rhetorical question).
It’s also probably better not to release a known buggy version, or maybe pull it from the download page once bugs affecting users are found, or at least put a warning … currently 6.1.1 says nothing about known bugs affecting users.
Cause they now solving the bugs. I think that’s good point. Let active users manual download and install upgrade, if there is a bug than fix it and after this push it to update servers …
The current updater works (I did upgrade multiple clients using it).
I agree that if there are known issues with 6.1.1 it should be marked as beta on the downloads page. It could be a good idea to mark new versions as beta in general and after sometime if now issues were reported remove the beta status and add it for automatic updates.
The current updates does not work, at least in my case, and never did. I’m still on 6.0.7 and it doesn’t detect anything new on startup. Manually going to “About” and clicking on “check for updates” also doesn’t do anything now … in the past it was saying there are no new versions. Now it’s silent.
This has been the case all the time. tested on Mac and Windows (both on 6.0.7).
Separately - please don’t leave known buggy versions for download as “stable”. Please mark them as beta or remove them from the public download page (and into a beta page).
Same here, I have been using Seafile for two years now, and I NEVER got a notification about an update being available…
When does the client check for updates? Only when it starts or periodically?
The latter would be better, because I almost never restart my computer (except when OS updates require it).
same here. Thousands of seafile-clients at our university that hardly get updated because the auto-update is not working correctly. Please do something about this or at least inform us about when you will or why you won’t fix this issue. Thanks!
Same here. The option has never worked (either automatically or manually). On Linux I’m saved by the OS which auto-updates all packages, but on Windows it just doesn’t work.
I agree with @muellefr - can the devs should fix it or provide a clear answer? Please don’t say it works, because it doesn’t.
The client has classically not worked with updating. Even when doing it manually, it still may report that you have the latest update. The best solution is to check seafile.com from time to time.
I checked the code. It’s not an issue with the Seafile client itself, but rather a file on the Seafile website that hasn’t been updated since version 6.0.7. It’s nothing more than an xml file that is easy to update, providing the files in the links are also updated.
Basically, here’s how it works. The Seafile client checks its own version and then compares it to the version in the xml file I mentioned via a 3rd party app called Sparkle. If the Sparkle version is newer than currently installed version, then a download of the new version is triggered.
Why not manage and display clearly you release a LTS stable version and another version updated regulary ? and maybe let the client choose the channel he wants to update ?
Why not let admin of the pro version choose the version of his clients he wants to update ?
A silent auto-update would be also greatly appreciated, to avoid questions of user asking if he have to update…
I have a related question regarding the update procedure: I still see lots of outdated sync-clients connecting to our servers. Maybe this has to do with limited user rights, so that people are not allowed to apply an update after being notified by the software. Have you considered altering the update-process so that it happens automatically or at least can be applied with standard user rights?
The last time was many weeks and versions ago.