firmware dependancy in metadata.json

Would it be useful to have a firmware tag in metadata.json ?
The idea would be that if specified the loader could check against the firmware that you had installed on the device and warn users that they should upgrade to the minimum level.

If not specified the check would not be carried out.

The advantage would be we would not have to add/remove notes from app descriptions that said 'requires firmware x'. My observation is that these tend not to get updated.

There was an issue open for this which I closed recently.

Right now the app loader warns users on every connection if their firmware isn't at the current latest release (2v12), so they'll be getting warnings anyway.

I don't know what others think, but my feeling is that we really don't have the resources right now to deal with a bunch of people on different firmware versions. It's enough of a nightmare trying to debug issues as-is when you have no idea what other apps could be installed. It's much better to try and get everyone on the latest version and then we don't have to worry about this.

Obviously depending on 2v12.123 or something is a bit trickier, but hopefully that will happen less and less as the firmware gets more mature.

I think we should probably get rid of all 'requires firmware x' descriptions, because as @HughB mentions those probably won't get updated when someone fixes/changes something using nifty new features from the latest firmware.

As for apps depending on 2v12.123, I feel we should just expect apps to work with the latest Release firmware. If something does require a Cutting Edge version that seems like a good reason to maybe put off merging until the next firmware Release is out.

Right now the app loader warns users on every connection if their firmware isn't at the current latest release (2v12), so they'll be getting warnings anyway.

Could you add link to "Firmware update" app to that warning? Currently I need to dismiss that warning and then manually search for that app as it can't even be set as favorite.

Obviously depending on 2v12.123 or something is a bit trickier,
but hopefully that will happen less and less as the firmware gets more mature.

This is the problem I was hoping to solve by the suggestion.
I completely agree you ideally want everyone on the latest firmware and now that it is much easier to update it using the app loader I suspect (hope) that most people would just track the latest firmware.

If something does require a Cutting Edge version that seems like a good reason to maybe put off >merging until the next firmware Release is out.

That would be fine if the period between major releases is just a couple of weeks but it has in the past been several months.

Its swings and roundabouts, as there are lots of apps with dependancies on what was at the time cutting edge firmware. You dont want people reporting issues against apps when they have not installed the right firmware, not everyone reads the README file etc.

I guess it depends on how stable the firmware is considered right now. Whats the rate of changes / fixes over time look like. Is it showing signs of slowing down ?

Whats the rate of changes / fixes over time look like. Is it showing signs of slowing down ?

I'd say so, definitely. And probably the rate at which I push new firmwares will go up too, now I have a bit more time.

I've just removed all the 'requires firmware' notes as they were all out of date.

Maybe there's something to be said for having a beta tag or similar that's off by default, but which you can click to enable and show apps that need the absolute latest firmwares

Maybe but 'beta' is always a bit subjective. In one sense all apps are beta until someone gives them a good try out and any issues that the author did not anticipate are uncovered.

I don't see this as a massive issue and probably not worth your time.