What's with the firmware updates?

Unless there is a new 'must have' feature of a major release, I rarely upgrade immediately upon release. I prefer to wait at least a few days to let the dust settle before upgrading my production hubs. On the other hand, my development hub gets all of the beta and production releases typically within hours of each release.

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Between feedback based changes and hotfixes, there usually is a flurry of updates after the initial release. We're not Microsoft here :slight_smile:

Also, updates are never pushed to the hub. The only indication there is an update is a dismissable alert in the top right corner of the hub UI.

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Was there a recent major release I came onboard after? I've been on Hubitat now for maybe a month, month and a half...

I'm just worried that I need to apply latest and greatest due to bugs being introduced by the last so on and so on patches...

Basically do I REALLY need to be applying every firmware udpate that gets posted up or can I get my stuff stable and leave well enough alone until there is a change in hardware I want support for a newer firmware release covers, OR there is a critical patch I need to apply?

How often should we as users be updating?

No.

Yes.

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Just read the release notes with each new release. Hot fix releases are very small changes. The main release has large release notes. There are also likely to be a few bugs in it that are picked up quickly by users, leading to hot fix releases. If you are not impacted by those bugs, there is no need to update unless you want to.

Yesterday's release notes: Notice 3 bugs were fixed, one app feature was introduced, and there were two UI additions. Unless you want Power Meters in Basic Rule, or were impacted by the Basic Rule contact remaining open bug, or the Rule-4.1 cancel wait from other rule bug, this release wouldn't do a lot for you. On the other hand, updating to it entails very little incremental risk as so little code was involved in it.

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I always read the release notes in detail before updating my hub. The Hubitat team does a very nice job of posting each update's changes here in the community, as shown below.

I recommend you set up your Community Account to email you for each new post in the "Announcements" and "Release Notes" category. This helps keep one in the loop as each new release or hotfix is made available.

Here is how I have mine set up

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I should let you know that there is at least one more hot fix coming, probably tomorrow. Again, it will be quite small in terms of changes. We hope it is the last one (such hopes have been known to be dashed in the past), so we can move on internally to 2.2.8.

Release 2.2.7 has been a very solid and stable release, with fewer issues than some major releases. Every major release has issues, some more than others. Every major release will have hot fix releases to clean up issues, some more than others.

It's also worth noting that 2.2.7 was released on build 119, now having moved up to build 124. That means we went through 19 versions of 2.2.7 internally before releasing it. Build 105, just our fifth internal build, was released to beta testing. We went through a total of 6 beta releases, before getting to build 119 for public release. Bugs were found on each of these releases, then fixed. Thus it goes....

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Unless I'm feeling adventurous, I usually wait a week.

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As long as you guys don't pass sudo rm -rf / [ENTER} in there I think we are all good.

ooooh.. I wonder what that does.. that's a NEW Linux command to me. :slight_smile: HEY, where did everything go?

Actually, as much humor as is intended, the humor dissipates as I remember reading so many here saying "I'm new to a RPI..." There is no command more dangerous than that one.

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What scares me the most is a new admin being granted root.

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In my case, I did get the new major release (2.2.7.119). Some time around then (and I really didn't check exact timing), an outlet for which I was using a Generic Z-Wave Outlet driver started acting flaky. Without explicit mention of bugs in these drivers (there were comments about some "updated" drivers, though), the issue seems to have been fixed in a subsequent Patch release. So it seems that there may be times when all of the details are not listed in the Patch release notes,but it still fixes some issues from the prior release.

Cheers.

I upgraded from 2.2.0.126 in May of 2020, and my next update to 2.2.5.131 was in February 2021...and I'm still on that version. So, yes, you can definitely leave it alone once you get it stable. :slight_smile:

2021-02-07_2.2.0.126 before restart and then update to 2.2.5

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Well, I am on 2.2.7.123. And everything is working. Including my uber flaky Hampton Bay controllers, so assuming no major flakiness I guess I am just gonna stay put for a while.

That's good since there is a lot I need to learn about writing rules so I can get my automations honed a little smoother...

Just don't try to cancel a Wait for mode change from another rule.... :sunglasses:

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Before Hubitat I used another automation hub for years that was rock solid reliable, but had a terrible (my personal opinion) user interface, and required me to either buy another of their devices to do third party device / system integrations, or run a RPi to do it (and they were ending support for RPi). And when they issued a firmware update, the little things that weren't caught in the "big" release often had to wait until the next big release. Frustrating.

One of the many improvements I've noticed from the Hubitat team is that those annoying little things that are found just after the big release ARE addressed, quickly, efficiently, and effectively. Big fan of that, and greatly appreciated. It takes me five to ten seconds to update each of my hubs, usually from an iPad as I lay in bed doing my morning reading. Could not be easier. Greatly appreciated. Change nothing in your approach, please, Hubitat team, and thanks for what you do.

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I totally agree with this. Their development cycle is spot on and seems to be well managed.

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I'll also say, some feature requests have come out as hot fixes too. The other day someone mentioned a method of handling something to @bravenel and literally the next day it was in a hotfix. We've gotten spoiled by dev's that listen to their customers. In most cases they will say, "Hey, I like this idea, let me pass it around to the team and get their input" and boom, new feature. In some cases they'll say, "No, this won't work for this specific reason, or it completely negates security in x area, or what have you" and move on. But they listen, they respond and interact. So a bunch of hot fixes after a major update is fine with me. If something breaks, I can roll back to the previous one. Pretty easy. Also as noted above, simply read the release notes! :slight_smile:

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As long as your devices don't change, then nothing needs to change with your hub. If you have LAN devices or anything that receives automatic updates, that might cause some conflict. But for zigbee or z-wave devices, they just sit there doing what they're supposed to do with the Hubitat as one big happy family. You could leave it untouched for decade and it would still do the same thing.

Come to think of it, Hubitat would be a great device to put on the next Mars Rover.

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I think that would exceed it's temperature rating. :wink:

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