[Martijn]

Problem:
Often users that don't follow media or the forum have no idea there has been a new release or don't watch the rss ticker or have it disabled. So they keep running that version for years.

Solution:
Add similar pop-up like openelec as to notify users there's a new version available.
Like if they are running stable version tell them there's a new major or bug-fix release. For users running monthly build tell them of the new one or in case next one is stable we tell them that.
Redirect them to the website for more information on upgrading.
This keeps user base up to date with latest versions and we hopefully don't have to deal with people that are still using old builds (some of course do by choice). This will also provide better feedback on our latest releases because hopefully more people use it.
Many software packages have a similar notification.
Just show it once with the option to remind in xx days or suppress until next release.


Release Edit:
Add-on has been added to official XBMC repo and can be installed manually if you are not using 13.0 Gotham alpha2 or later builds.
Forum thread can be found here: XBMC Version Check

[Memphiz]

Patches are ... ohh wait - its you Martijn

Well that sounds like a nice thing. No clue where to start though.

[Martijn]

well it could be done quite simple by using an addon i guess.
detect what version is used by the user. see what's available online and throw a dialog. you could even do it as easy as hardcode it in the addon and push out an update to repo on each release.
making sure everyone gets the addon installed is making it a dependency of the default scraper(s).
seems kinda hackish though but should work quite well.

having it in core would make it much nicer though (altough not as easy to update in between).

[artrafael]

Would this pop-up only appear while on the homepage (so as not to interrupt media playback)?

[Martijn]

Would this pop-up only appear while on the homepage (so as not to interrupt media playback)?

we can define in what window it will show and when (as addon or core feature)

[natethomas]

There'd be no reason we couldn't also include it as a default addon with Gotham.

I know we're generally opposed to gathering data about how many users we have or anything else for privacy purposes. But this could theoretically be a way to handle that. With the first dialog, we could give users the option to submit minimal data "version, platform, nationality, some kind of identifier to avoid counting twice." While it still wouldn't be super accurate, it'd still give us better data than the guessing game we play now.

That's just a thought though, and certainly not required for something like this to get my +1.

[spiff]

any call home functionality have my -100.

[da-anda]

@spiff - simply add a checkbox in settings "check for new versions" and all is good IMO. OTOH the RSS feed will inform about new versions.

[joethefox]

A "Check for updates at startup" system option could be good as well. If a user disable this option he still can continue to check for updates by going under System Info > Check for Updates.

[Martijn]

@spiff - simply add a checkbox in settings "check for new versions" and all is good IMO. OTOH the RSS feed will inform about new versions.

Like said rss feed is often disabled or simply ignored so not reliable (we could monitor rss on background though).
Home callbacks aren't needed I think. Just a server flag check what version is available and even that should not be done very often (maybe once a week).
Doing it as an addon it could be simply configured in the script how to act and easily updated. Also no server check needed because we simply push out an update with latest version data which the script compares to the install. Since we already have some stats about addon downloads we could try and use that if we feel that necessary (depending on what information it can give). We already have some stats from scrapers. Too be clear this is not to track user behaviour but to simply tell them they can upgrade to new version.

So first question will be should it be an addon or core function?
One required option should be that different distributions should have the option to disable this behavior like OE or xbian to name dome because they follow a different release schedule / version.

[Ned Scott]

Wouldn't this actually not be a "call home" situation? It's not reporting anything back to us, but just checking for the existence of something. No different than seeing there are updates available for add-ons.

If we make it an add-on that would be one way to make it "opt-in", regardless of how this is viewed. An add-on could even have a configuration page that says "check for official, check for OE, check for ....", just to throw that out there.

The first thing I do on any XBMC installation is turn off the RSS feed. I know I'm not alone on this :)

[Memphiz]

CptSpiff was refering to Nates suggestion i guess. The update information dialog on its own is not the calling home function we are against.

[da-anda]

a plain textfile on the server that holds the current version number and have that checked via a core addon (shipped addon) should do the trick.
The addon could check it every x days and if the version differs from currently running, show notification. Making it a core addon should allow other distributions to exclude or easily modify it.

It would be nice/good though if the addon could add/inject the needed configuration stuff in the main settings for easier access. Would that be possible with your settings rewrite Montellese?

[Ned Scott]

Probably best on the mirrors. and with the option to see the change log form within XBMC. and a pony :D

[natethomas]

CptSpiff was refering to Nates suggestion i guess. The update information dialog on its own is not the calling home function we are against.

Yup, purely professional difference of opinion. I'd like an opt-in call home. Many others want zero call home at all. hrug: