This summary is published every Monday and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Viewer Round-up Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware) and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy
By its nature, this summary will always be in arrears
The Viewer Round-up Page is updated as soon as I’m aware of any releases / changes to viewers & clients, and should be referred to for more up-to-date information
The Viewer Round-up Page also includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
This summary is published every Monday and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Viewer Round-up Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware) and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy
By its nature, this summary will always be in arrears
The Viewer Round-up Page is updated as soon as I’m aware of any releases / changes to viewers & clients, and should be referred to for more up-to-date information
The Viewer Round-up Page also includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
This summary is published every Monday and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Viewer Round-up Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware) and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy
By its nature, this summary will always be in arrears
The Viewer Round-up Page is updated as soon as I’m aware of any releases / changes to viewers & clients, and should be referred to for more up-to-date information
The Viewer Round-up Page also includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
This summary is published every Monday and is a list of SL viewer / client releases (official and TPV) made during the previous week. When reading it, please note:
It is based on my Viewer Round-up Page, a list of all Second Life viewers and clients that are in popular use (and of which I am aware) and which are recognised as adhering to the TPV Policy
By its nature, this summary will always be in arrears
The Viewer Round-up Page is updated as soon as I’m aware of any releases / changes to viewers & clients, and should be referred to for more up-to-date information
The Viewer Round-up Page also includes comprehensive links to download pages, blog notes, release notes, etc., as well as links to any / all reviews of specific viewers / clients made within this blog.
Updates for the week ending: July 14th, 2013
Official LL Viewers
Project CHUI channel updated to 3.6.2.278372 on July 9
Update, September 15th, 2024: the viewer release process defined below has been replaced:
Linden Lab now maintains a single Develop branch for the viewer, into which updates all pass for internal viewer builds, and from which Release Candidate viewers are peeled and made available.
This is tied to a “featurettes” approach to new features and capabilities, whereby these may be added to the viewer and deployed within Release Candidates, but place behind debug settings / remain “turned off” until such time as all dependencies on their use (e.g. back-end support) are in place / LL are confident they are ready to be made fully available.
Update July 23rd, 2013: As release candidate viewers are now available for download on the Alternate Viewers wiki page, I’ve added some notes on manually installing and running multiple release candidates to this article.
The new viewer release process announced by the Lab in May 2013 has officially been implemented.
Officially called the Viewer Integration and Release Process, It is designed to improve how the Lab can put new viewers before users and progress them through to a release status while avoiding bottlenecks such as those witnessed in late 2012, when an issue with the Viewer Beta channel effectively stopped any new viewer releases for around a two-month period.
With the new system, early versions of viewers will still be made available through “dedicated” project and beta viewers, all of which will be available for download via the Official Alternate Viewers Page. However, the major change to the process is the use of “release candidates”.
When a viewer is ready for final testing, a release candidate will be readied. Rather than residing in their own dedicated viewer channel, these release candidates will be updates in the regular release channel, residing in a named “cohort” within the channel.
This means two things. Firstly, release candidates are available for download alongside one another and the default release viewer. Who might receive a given release candidate is a random selection based on a viewer setting (see below) and a pre-determined quota of downloads for the candidate (once the quota has been reached for a given candidate, the system will no longer select it for download).
Secondly, when a specific release candidate is deemed ready for release (based on bug reports filed, issues reported and fixed, stats gathered, etc.), there is no longer any need to rebuild it as a “release” viewer, as it is already in the release channel. It is simply moved from its named cohort to become the default release version on the SL viewer download page. Any remaining release candidates are then rebuilt using the new default release code, and continue with testing until one is deemed ready to become the next release.
From a user perspective, release candidates are largely indistinguishable from one another and the default release viewer (other than their version number and the features they contain), and the chances are that some users will be unaware that they have been selected by the system to run a release candidate; they will simply see it as receiving an automatic / mandatory viewer update, and install it.
“Willing to Update” and Release Candidate Downloads
As mentioned above, users who receive a release candidate viewer are selected at random, based on a defined quota of downloads for a given release candidate. However, whether or not a user might be selected to receive a release candidate viewer depends on whether or not they have left the “willing to update” option enabled in their current viewer.
Located in Preferences > Setup, “willing to update to release candidates” (to give the option its full name) is enabled by default. But just because it is, does not automatically mean someone will be selected to test a release candidate viewer. This is because the download quota defined for any given release candidate will always be relatively small when compared to the SL user base as whole.
However, if you don’t wish to run any release candidate viewers at all, you can disable this option, and only receive viewer updates when the default release viewer is updated.
Another point to remember with release candidates is that users won’t be moved between release candidates as a result of updates. So if you leave the “willing to update” option enabled and you happen to be selected for testing “release candidate A”, you won’t suddenly start receiving updates for “release candidate B”; you’ll stay with the updates for “release candidate A” until such time as it becomes the default release viewer. Only then might you be selected to receive another release candidate download at some point in the future.
Download Page and Alternate Viewers Page updates
As a result of the move to the new release process, the SL viewer download page has been updated, and there is no longer any link to download the “Beta Viewer”. Instead, there is a link which takes you to the Official Alternative Viewer wiki page, which instead lists all available beta and project viewers.
An important aspect of viewer bug reporting has been to give details of the viewer you’re running, including the version number. This information is requested in the “Environment” section of the bug report form. Given that the new viewer release process means there can be a number of release candidates in use at any given time, as well as various beta and project viewers, it is even more important that this information is given when raising a bug report.
Displaying details of the viewer you are using, including its version number
Viewer information can be found in the About Second Life floater (Help > About Second Life), if you’re not already familiar with it. Further, the information on this floater can be copied directly to your clipboard ready to be pasted in a bug report to save you having to manually enter it.
Notes on Manually Installing Release Candidates
Viewer release candidates are now listed on the Alternative Viewers wiki page, and can be downloaded and installed, if so desired. If you do opt to do so, please note that release candidates are contained in “cohorts” within the viewer release channel, and are designed to overwrite any release candidate viewer you have installed. Therefore, if you wish to manually install multiple release candidate viewers side-by-side and with the de facto release viewer, you much ensure, in accordance with your operating system, that:
Any shortcuts / start menu links (e.g. Windows) you have for the viewer are renamed before you install any release candidates
Each release candidate is installed into a unique folder
Any shortcuts / start menu links (e.g. Windows) which are created as a part of the installation process are given unique names before installing the next release candidate
Notes:
If you provide unique destinations for each release candidate installation thorugh the installer package (e.g. Windows), make sure the installer is listing the correct destination folder when manually downloading and installing a subsequent release / update
The Windows auto-updater will automatically install into the last folder defined in the viewer installer (so if you have manually installed “Release Candidate A” and then “Release Candidate B” into separate folders, then get an update for “Release Candidate A” via the auto-updater, it will install into the folder for “Release Candidate B”)
Disabling the auto-updater in Preferences may not stop this from happening.
Instead, go to viewer install folder/app_settings, then edit settings.xml, and find the entry UpdaterServiceURL and change https://update.secondlife.com to https://secondlife.com/no-thanks (or similar) and save. You may need Admin privileges to do this.
Changes to this Blog
I maintain a list of viewers recognised as being used with Second Life (predominantly, but not exclusively, based on the Third-party Viewer Directory), which is updated as a when I become aware of new viewer releases being made. The section of this page which deals with the SL viewer has been updated to reflect the new viewer release process, and now includes all SL viewers currently listed in the SL viewer download page and the Official Alternate Viewer wiki page (with the exception of the Amazon channel viewer, which is the version of the viewer offered through Amazon.com).
With Server-side Baking / Appearance starting to be enabled on the grid, the only two maintained viewers not to be SSB/A enabled are Dolphin and Imprudence.
I recently covered the state-of-play with Imprudence, and the fact that the team plan to ramp-up the viewer to support all of the new SL capabilities and viewer changes, including CHUI, materials and SSB/A, but it is liable to be some time before they actually get there.
Now Lance Corrimal, the man behind Dolphin, has provided an update on the status of that viewer. The main part of his blog post reads:
I’m sure there are one or two people wondering what is going on with the Dolphin Viewer lately.
To put it simply, my life has been quite hectic the last few months, and it still is. I have a new job that demands a lot of my time and attention. I’ve moved to a different province because of the job, and when I am actually home (the new job involves a lot of travelling), I’m just too damned tired to spend time on working on the viewer.
That being said, there will be a new version, that will have all the new shinies from the Lab. The CHUI interface, SSA, Materials, you name it.
Just … please do not ask me when. “When it is finished” is all I can say right now.
So – SSB/A and more will all be coming to Dolphin – soon. Just give Lance a little room to breathe as the dust of a busy real life settles around him.
He also notes that Dolphin users seeing the advisory warning users of a mandatory viewer update which is displayed on the splash should be aware that clicking on the link will download the official SL viewer, not an updated version of Dolphin.
The splash screen advisory comes from LL (along with the rest of the splash screen), and will download the official viewer, not an updated version of Dolphin
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 