One frustration I find with running BOINC is that there seems to be no mechanism for the installed software to alert me when a new version of BOINC Manager is available.

It would be nice to have a preference that allows you select:

- checks daily/weekly/monthly/manually
- beta releases and/or major releases

It doesn't even have to be turned on by default, but it would be nice to have it.

Ever since BOINC 5.8 or 5.10 a function has been built into the client to check for newer updates of itself every 2 weeks. When a newer version than the one installed is found on the server, you'll get a message in the Messages log telling you that there is a newer version available.

The check is for recommended versions only, it won't apply to alpha/beta releases as those will generally be advertised on the BOINC Alpha email list. 'Normal users' don't need to know about these versions.

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When a newer version than the one installed is found on the server, you'll get a message in the Messages log telling you that there is a newer version available.

I admit I've already seen such message :-D but do not remember how long ago.
I hope the newly coming Notices will make sure the check will not remain unnoticed.

Peter

I hope the newly coming Notices will make sure the check will not remain unnoticed.

The outcome of the check for new versions will show in the Notices tab.

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Is that platform specific? Most of my clients are running on Mac and I have never seen such a message, and there is no option visible in either "Options" or "Preferences".

If by "Notices tab" you mean "Messages", then that's a little more sotto voce than I was thinking.

I'm running 6.10.58 on Mac.

Is that platform specific?

No, it's on all platforms.

If by "Notices tab" you mean "Messages"

We were talking about the new feature on the alpha versions, where the Messages tab is no more. Instead there's a Notices tab with other messages, while the messages are now in the Event Log under the Advanced menu. Nothing to worry about, you'll see it eventually.

May I ask, how come you're running 6.10.58? Did someone point it out as being the latest, did you yourself see it as being the latest? It's well possible that by updating to the latest version, your BOINC never had the chance to check for a newer version and tell you about it.

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The message appears in Messages tab in red:

12-Jul-2010 01:09:19 [SETI@home] update requested by user
12-Jul-2010 01:09:21 [SETI@home] Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.
12-Jul-2010 01:09:21 [SETI@home] Reporting 1 completed tasks, not requesting new tasks
12-Jul-2010 01:09:25 [---] A new version of BOINC (6.10.56) is available for your computer
12-Jul-2010 01:09:25 [---] Visit http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php to get it.
12-Jul-2010 01:09:27 [SETI@home] Scheduler request completed


You can check for old Messages (last few months) in the files:
stdoutdae.txt
stdoutdae.old

and search for text:
"new version of BOINC"

(I did just that to get the messages shown above)

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)

Every once in a while I check my BOINC version and then check the website for the current listed latest, hence me running 6.10.58

As I said, I have never noticed an Alert from the software itself that there is a newer version - even when I'd left it so long that I ended up upgrading from a 5.x version to a 6.x

Having the only alert be a message appear in the BOINC Manager Messages pane - for users like me - in effect buries it. The feature I was suggesting would be much more like the mechanisms used by other software where a pop-up comes on screen to alert the user. For me, going through the message queue is almost as much effort as manually checking versions against the website.

Out of interest, what is the spread of software versions out there in the wild? Are many users missing the update alerts or am I in a lazy minority? :)

If putting explicit upgrade alerts in the software itself is seen as too intrusive, an official Twitter or email alert would be nice.

Out of interest, what is the spread of software versions out there in the wild?

The link only shows SETI clients, but I think you get the picture:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/client_types.php

Are many users missing the update alerts or am I in a lazy minority? :)

I never miss the alerts (I find them quite annoying:-), but I'm still running 5.10.45. Never touch a running system ;-)

Gruß,
Gundolf

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Computer sind nicht alles im Leben. (Kleiner Scherz)