Turn off "checking for updates" ?

[robert]

Would it be possible to either completely remove or allot for some flag to turn off adiabat's phone-home style version checking when you run the binary? I'm not always online when I run it (causing a significant delay) and often times I have to run the code separately dozens to hundreds of times. I figure people will only upgrade the software on their own volition anyway, despite any forced reminders.

[Paula]

For reasons that I have never looked into, the delay in starting Adiabat_1ph when not online only seems to affect Linux machines, even though the Mac program uses the same code; for a long time the few Linux users we had were mostly using workstations so it was not such an issue anyway. That said, if there are any Mac users who are experiencing a significant delay, please let us know and we'll endeavour to fix it :)

To be honest, when we released Adiabat_1ph in 2004 I was initially dubious about including the automatic updates feature.  Over the years since I have realised that in practice people do not tend to upgrade the software unless reminded to do so and that the update checks serve as the most reliable reminder. For example, many users (especially those with a present or past connection to Caltech!) are or were not registered to use the forum or its forerunner the 'updates mailing list'. That's not a complaint: anyone is welcome to use the software with or without signing up but please understand we don't have time to chase everyone up individually and let them know each time an important change is made.

Most of the changes we make are for new features or for correction of bugs that are minor, with no significant effect on calculation results. 'Major' fixes usually affect whether the software runs or crashes or improve its performance speed, without changing whether it is accurate. Whilst we cannot force anyone to upgrade, it would be in their own interests to do so. Rarely, (twice, I think) there have been errors that could generate 'wrong' results in certain cases; both times we posted an update within a week or two.  In those cases, we apologise for any inconvenience caused but equally it is important that people download the update; we cannot be held responsible if such results make it into published work. This is particularly true for anyone running a test copy of Adiabat_1ph as the serious bugs are almost invariably side-effects and, therefore, more likely to occur in the beta versions.

As a result, I am reluctant to remove or provide an option to disable the automatic checking for updates on a permanent basis. I will look into why the problem with it occurs in Linux. If I can't find a way to fix it I will add something like setting of an 'Last time checked' environment variable so that it will only check the first time you run the software on a given day.  In the meantime, I have put a test copy of the 64-bit version with updates disabled in the same folder where you got the last one.

Cheers,
Paula

[robert]

Even if the delay is a bug I'd really prefer a way to short circuit the check completely. How about a "check for updates" numerical choice in the menu?

In any event, maybe it would be a good idea to include a release date as well as a version number on the startup script. Seeing "Version 1.2.4" won't scare people as well as "Released 3/23/2004" or something.

Thanks!

[Paula]

It's not a bug per se but some kind of limitation in the way that some Linux distributions currently handle DNS lookup and detecting of events such as a network cable being physically unplugged. I have only tested RHEL/Fedora and MacOS X (i.e. FreeBSD) so I don't know if other flavours of *nix work better or worse. There are things that can be done client-side to stop programs hanging when offline but I have implemented a workaround instead. In the next version of Adiabat_1ph, the maximum wait on Linux or MacOS X will be 3 seconds. Furthermore, on all platforms the program will only try to connect if it has been more than six hours since the last check; this writes an 'adiabatdate' file so don't delete that or it won't work. The specific timings are chosen so as not to disadvantage users in some Asian countries.

We're not trying to scare anyone into upgrading or persuade them against their own volition(!). Quite the opposite: seems to me that most people are happy to take a few minutes to download the update if they know it's there. This scheme just saves them the trouble of remembering to check manually and makes it easier for us to help with problems and requests if their software is current. A 'check for updates' menu option is incompatible with the Windows version of the code, unfortunately, and a release date is not a bad idea (although any delay in getting the documentation and websites up to date would require all five versions of Adiabat_1ph to be rebuilt...) but as I have already explained the (scientific) need to upgrade bears little relation to the time since the last download. Check the version log for more details.

Paula