Beta Participation

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Black Hole

Black Hole

May contain traces of nut
Newcomers to the Beta Package Programme are STRONGLY ADVISED to read the following carefully.

For Custom Firmware users willing to ride the bleeding edge of package development, thus providing valuable feedback before new features and possibly risky updates reach the main-stream users, feel free to subscribe to the beta trials programme:
  1. If it is installed, ensure your version of the auto-update package is at least 2.0.4 (which it should be, when it updates itself as of 6th March 2017);

  2. Install package opkg-beta from the package list;

  3. Updating the package list will now include packages from the beta repository;

  4. Install any beta packages you may be interested in (colour-coded in the list, and suffixed by the beta symbol), and/or update any existing packages that now have a beta version.
There are a few things to be aware of:
  1. Do not expect beta versions of packages to be trouble-free - that's the point of beta trials. It is reasonable to expect the developer to have tested it a bit on one or a few machines, but the idea of a beta trial programme is to test whatever-it-is in a large range of units with as wide a variety of configurations (hardware, base firmware, package population, usages) as possible. Expect frequent updates, and please report experiences in detail (positive or negative). The existing discussion in the relevant package topic should give a good idea as to how polished or troublesome any particular development is. If your target scenario is for maximum reliability, do not engage with the beta programme.

  2. The auto-update package 2.0.4 (and above) defaults to not automatically updating installed packages to a beta release, even when the user has installed opkg-beta. This is so that (a) the beta participant remains aware of the exact version of beta installed; and (b) any packages the participant does not want to update to beta versions are not automatically enrolled in the beta trial. Note that some beta packages or package updates may be dependent on other beta updates (particularly WebIF), but normally this will be signalled in the forum notes. Updates to beta versions must be applied manually, selectively, via WebIF >> Package Management >> Upgrades (refresh the list using the "Check for updates" button).

    If you have a gung-ho attitude, turn on beta updates in WebIF >> Settings >> Settings for auto-update package (which will then automatically update all packages, including beta releases). This is risky however.

  3. The benefits of the beta programme are: early access to new features and facilities; direct influence over design decisions early enough in the development cycle to make a difference; and making a contribution to the continuing development of the custom firmware ecosystem. Participants are strongly encouraged to report back.

  4. When the development of a package has reached maturity, and there is sufficient body of evidence that it is stable on multiple target systems of varying configuration, the package will be moved to the mainstream and lose its Beta tag.

  5. Not everything marked Beta conforms to the restrictions above. Some (particularly WebIF facilities rather than specific packages, eg Real-Time Scheduling) has leaked into the non-Beta ecosystem and is in general use.

  6. Discussion of beta packages is through this section of the forum only. Where a package is not in the mainstream, it is likely for good reason and "casual" CF users should not be encouraged to play with beta packages unaware of problems which may arise as a consequence.

Index of Beta Package Primary Topics

cfupdater

iplfix

iplhack

radio-ss-off

samba 3

stripts

transportx

vbigdisk

webif

wsdd2

zeroconf/mdnsd
 
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