Hello all,
First of all thanks for Duplicati, it works well, is reliable, good work!
I see in the UI I’m currently using version 2.0.6.104_canary_2022-06-15, and I’m being offered to upgrade to 2.0.6.106_canary_2023-05-03, which is fine.
Where I’m confused is the Duplicati download page shows a version 2.0.6.3 and the file that downloaded is duplicati-2.0.6.3_beta_2021-06-17-x64
Thanks!
Hi @allp ,
I’m not sure exactly where the confusion is, so here’s explanations for a few things, hopefully one of them helps clear things up for you!
Beta and Canary are two different things. They describe the expected stability of that release.
It doesn’t mean anything about age. Beta being considered more stable than Canary. And Canary is more stable than Experimental. I believe that Duplicati will not “promote” a version from Experimental to Canary or Canary to Beta without also changing its version number and so regardless of Beta/Canary/Experimental, the version number always tells you which one is newer. The label tells you how stable it is likely to be. Most people would stay on Beta unless there’s something in a Canary releases that they really need. Keeping in mind that just because that Canary build fixes something for you, it may also break something for you.
In case you were interpreting X.0.Y.3 as being “higher”/“more recent” than X.0.Y.106 because 3 is greater than 1, that fourth number in the version number truly is a whole number where a larger one is more recent than a lower one - as long as the “X.0.Y” of the versions you’re comparing are the same.
To give you an idea of the progression of releases, check out the release tags on github: Tags · duplicati/duplicati · GitHub
You’re likely to see a few Canary releases in between Beta releases where new features/bugfixes are tried out. Once a Canary build is determined to be stable enough, a new Beta release will be made.
Hope this helps!
L
https://github.com/duplicati/duplicati/releases is another way to see progression by date – with notes.
One correction I’ll offer is that Experimental is made after Canary looks good. It’s sort of the pre-Beta.
Despite all the testing, sometimes problems are found and corrected, and lower-maturity tests repeat:
2.0.5.114_canary_2021-03-10
2.0.6.0_experimental_2021-04-09
2.0.6.1_beta_2021-05-03
2.0.6.2_experimental_2021-05-29
2.0.6.3_beta_2021-06-17
Settings in Duplicati describes the channel concept, e.g. if you like new and unknown, get on Canary.
You’ll get the latest features and fixes, plus any new bugs that have been introduced along with them.
Canary should only be run with the understanding that Canary is for people to help find issues earlier.
Things stop at Beta rather than Stable because Duplicati, while stable for many, has issues for some.
The download page has direct links to an old but well-proven version. Less proven ones are linked at:
Hello both,
Thanks for explaining. I hadn’t caught on the “channel” concept, it all makes sense now.
One question however: you write " Beta being considered more stable than Canary", but it seems it’s the other way round looking at the settings page where Canary is the default and beta is described as “Try out new features…”, which is what I would expect beta to be about generally.
So I’ll stay on canary for now at least…
Thanks again, cheers
It is not. You can see from the release history. A Canary is chosen periodically for promotion. The same code goes out as an Experimental then a Beta, each one to a different channel. This invites autoupdate which is not the same as an original install from a manually downloaded .msi installer file which goes to C:\Program Files\Duplicati 2 and sets the base install version – and also sets the default channel:
Default for you is based on what maturity level you picked for original install.
Right now, it’s probably got a lot fewer bugs than Beta, but any Canary is basically an unknown initially. This particular one is hoped to become Experimental then Beta if it it seems healthy. Thanks for testing.
So beta is the stabler version, despite the Settings page saying “Try out new features etc” making it sound not recommended for “production”, hence the questions.
So I’ll stay on canary for now, looking forward a new beta (the previous one is almost 2 years old now)
Look lower. Experimental and Canary were even less recommended years ago.
“for developers only. Not for use with important data.” is a rather major warning.
Unfortunately Beta has been so rare that some people need Canary for its fixes.
There has been and still is a serious lack of volunteers. Anybody willing to help?
Developers (C#, SQL, GUI, etc.), testers, writers, and support help could help…
See forum for the debate on what if anything is for production. YMMV quite a lot.
is the whole scheme. One can see stable (apparently to be called “Official releases”) is commented out. When and if it can be achieved, then Beta as “Try out” makes more sense, but there is no “Stable” now.
Well, I did not notice that. I don’t think that it’s worth the bother to get an experimental out in current situation, with canary 104 languishing for so long and 105/106 having not much substantial change, so my plan is still that when canary 106 will have been downloaded more than last experimental I will ask for 2.0.6.4 beta with Duplicati as it is now.