Hi all,
I get approx 3 version updates per week for my C8.
My questions are:
Thanks,
Patrick
Right now HE staff are mainly wrapping up edge cases exposed by last semi-major update so you are seeing a small release everytime they believe that they’ve addressed one (or more) of them. Normally, unless you’re a beta tester, you’ll go a couple of months between new feature sets.
As tlo auto-install, it goes against the philosophy that the owner should be the only one choosing when the hub is updated.
The latest update cycle is somewhat different than previous releases. The 2.3.9's rapid release cycle is due to some critical issues that have not been discovered during the beta testing, which our engineers have tried to address.
2.3.9 has also featured a number of enhancements that historically have been bundled in a major release, but since the current release cycle has been extended, they have been tagged along with the critical fixes.
No, we do not recommend applying updates automatically since the update may happen at the most inopportune time for a user.
Generally, the small updates are addressing edge cases, so unless the users are directly impacted by the problem(s) listed in the release notes, the update can be safely postponed.
Users don't need to run the updates immediately, as each release is cumulative, meaning the previous updates are carried forward to new releases, so missing features or bug fixes from one update will be available in the next version.
@bobbyD , is the little red reminder bubble that a new update is available a good indicator that it's time to update? It doesn't come on for every update, does it?
Should show up for every update, but the UI only checks, I believe, once or twice a day.
No, not really. That is there to let you know an update is available. The best "indicator" that it's time to update is when you are ready to run the update and have time on hand to troubleshoot if the update doesn't go smooth. If you can't find the time, then no worries, you don't have to update until you do.
Yes, if your hub is working fine then wait and update when you are ready, all prior updates would be bundled into the current version.
If the current release does not have a new feature you want, or a bug fix that impacts you, there is no reason to update actually.
I'm not a fan of HE update methods. There isn't to my knowledge a check box for 'keep my hub current'. Also, since bug fixes and improvements are lumped into 'updates' - unless I'm at least 1/2 a dev, AND want to research the impact of each update, as well as parse the impact - I'm stuck wasting my time watching over each update, and trying to make sense of release notes.
Good updater tools separate and manage some of this for me. Drupal, eg; flags updates for community components, (a completely separate task - why not roll HPM into updates?) as well as security fixes and 'required' or not status. they also manage sub-releases in a useful way. And the Beta testers and automation check updates for regression in a functional way that limits the bad updates I might install. In HE, it's more 3 steps forward 2 steps back. Take the recent mDNS. Or the recent API change, or the recent new Dashboard....
Honestly - I accept my HE is going to break when I do updates - when flurries of updates come out, I spend (waste?) time reading the notes to glean if I have to have it - but I can never really tell. This is all just one users opinion of course and as always will result in a crap-ton of negative response. (which I'll probably not read either 
)
For you the best bet would be to follow the approach immediately preceding yours.
as always seems to happen - my opinion is interpreted as a need. I don't need anything - I'm offered thoughts that may someday filter up and improve this tool.
In this case at least, your opinion is seemingly incompatible with the opinion that has been brought up and confirmed by staff above:
That’s unlikely to change in response to user feedback, ever. Even for users that affirm they prefer to have firmware updates pushed to their hubs every time one becomes available.
You seem very committed to voicing an opinion and not considering anything that anyone else has to say about the matter…
And now imagine these updates would be pushed down your hub's throat when you are at the grocery store, right before your guests come to town to visit you for the weekend. If these updates that you believe are going to break your perfectly working system would be applied automatically, wouldn't your time be better spent enjoying the time with your friends instead of troubleshooting what broke your system? If you don't have time to read the release notes, or to troubleshoot an update that may cause problems that you don't have, you don't have to spend one minute doing it. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. If there is something new that you like to add to your system, you can do that at your own convenience. That's why we don't offer automated updates.
You are probably not going to get many people to agree with your preferred approach. Many of us came from Smartthings and that was what they did, and why many of us starting looking elsewhere. It wasn't the only thing but it was a major issue I had with ST.
Download the Hubitat app
