Update: the rationale for NOT implementing this are quite clear and listed below - I completely see why this feature is NOT going to happen. I recommend moderators keep this post searchable for others to find when they search,
I know this is quite a polarising topic - but I’d like to resurrect the request for an option to automatically install the latest hub firmware. Ideally it’d let me choose to install:
nothing - just manual updates
patch updates e.g.2.3.x
minor updates eg 2.x.x
All updates
Of course I know that sometimes there are breaking changes even in patches or minor updates (eg recent cloud backup changes) and there should be an additional option to apply or skip them automatically.
The main motivation here is that I want my automation to be “set and forget”. I don’t want to have to be checking or manually tweaking stuff all the time, and I believe automatically staying up to date with iterative improvements is easier than making big jumps every 6 months.
Trust me, there have been several threads where Bruce himself has said it won't be done. He also has expressly said there will not be any offline updates either.
The overall rationale for the autoupdate is support issues. A few people updating to a bad update is manageable. Bricking an entire swath of hubs would be a nightmare. It's better to let people update on their own, at least that way they can check if anyone else is having issues before committing to an update. As to the offline update, that is to assist in preventing reverse engineering of the code itself.
There will always be a small-but-not-zero chance of an update breaking something I (or SWMBO) hold dear, and I don't always have time Right Now to deal with it. I never do updates unless I know I'm going to be at my desk with at least a little time to spare for at least a couple of hours.
Yeah I can see it would be much more complex - you’d need a delay between voluntary updates and automated ones to give time for bugs to be found and fixed etc.
I do think that the slew of new features recently are worth upgrading for - but eventually I’m sure once it’s working I just want to leave it be!
I believe all hub automations and rules are on hold during a firmware upgrade. I for one are against automatic upgrades because I need to choose the time of day the upgrade takes place to avoid interrupting my rules.
True but there’s a lot of companies which do it right. I’ve never had a problem with my Lutron hub, instanton APs, firebrick firewall, Heatmiser thermostats - but I know it is very hard to do, and if its already been put in the “too hard for now” box that’s a clear answer for me
I believe you can create an update notification using custom attributes in Rule Machine if you use the Hub Information Driver. You could turn on a light, notify your phone, or announce it on a speaker.
Ok, with Hub Information it is easy to know that there is an update available and to create warning rules in many ways. The question I would like is that if I know there is an update available, at 2am the system will automatically update itself. If there is no auto-update (on-off) in the settings, ok, is there any way to command it? In the same way we can command a reboot and a shutdown, can we command an update?
I mean, you probably could initiate the update automatically, but I wouldn't necessarily advise doing that. Many people don't update right away to wait for bugfixes to go through, which might be a good strategy in general for the casual user. You probably want to observe the update process, in the rare case you have to roll back or intervene for some reason. In a few instances, the update has asked to go into an app and press "Done" to fix a bug or do a Z-wave firmware update. I am not sure how you would automate things like that?
You should take a backup before updating. (the UI prompts to perform backup before an update) There are probably ways to automate that portion, and likely there are instructions on this forum how to do auto backups. Again, it is rare to have issues, but there is a reason they ask to do a backup.
I am not sure you can skip the Terms of Service, but someone may have written a script for that. But I am not aware of a way.
This is my opinion, but I think that auto updates are in general are bad idea, and I don't advocate doing them. I don't know how to do so, and even if I did, this is one thing I would not be comfortable advising people do. The developers also have strong feelings about not providing this feature. But this comes from the guy who shuts off my Windows update (and updates manually), so take that for what it is worth.
Besides, I am not sure what you would gain by having auto updates? Could you tell us (and the developers) why they are necessary? Maybe I am missing something here?
I agree with your comments, but I think HE already has a certain maturity to take this step of making available the possibility, at the user's sole choice, to turn on/off an automatic update function.
As you mention, there are many updates where nothing happens at most, some dependency like zwave upgrade.
So I still have an idea that if it is possible to have this option for the user to turn on/off under the user's sole discretion, under full warning of the risk involved, it would be good. It should come off by default.
Some suggestions:
on or off, by the user, default off
if automatic turn on, there has to be a backup screen before
if the update has dependencies, it should not be executed
in any scenario, the possibility to have a variable/element that can query messages - like update done / update not done because of dependency / update failed...
In summary, against imposing automatic updates, in favor of the user being able to activate it.
Regardless of what anyone here says it's been decided by Hubitat that it's not gonna happen. They've taken it under advisement and if anything changes we'll be the first to know
I was just interested in the rationale - I’m sure smarter people than me have thought about it so probably something I can learn from it.
