Release Notes for JMRI 4.17.5 release

Date: November 1, 2019

From: Bob Jacobsen

Subject: Test Release 4.17.5 of JMRI/DecoderPro is available for download.

Notes:

This is a test release. Please post a note if you encounter any new or old bugs! And please back up your JMRI files before installing this, in case you want to go back to an earlier version.

This is the next in a series of test releases. We expect this series to end in the next JMRI production release late in 2019. (See the tentative release schedule)

Some of the changes involved are quite extensive. They may require a certain amount of experience before they are working well. Therefore, this test release should be considered experimental.

JMRI is now only available under the GNU General Public License. For more information, please see our copyright and licensing page.

Update From Older JMRI Versions

If you are currently using JMRI 4.11.9 or earlier, we strongly recommend that you update to JMRI 4.12 and make sure that's running OK before updating to this test release. Once you have JMRI 4.12 running OK, store your configuration and panel files and use those from then on. There have been a number of changes in serial port support, panel file format and configuration options since those earlier releases, and moving to the stable JMRI 4.12 release is a good way to work through any possible problems.

If you are currently using JMRI 4.7.3 or earlier on Linux or macOS (Windows doesn't need this), you must update to JMRI 4.12 and carrying out the migration process described in the JMRI 4.12 release note before updating to this release.

Known problems with this release

• Since JMRI 4.17.5 Certain decoder definitions, particularly complex ones, have trouble with data entry. Please use JMRI 4.17.7 or later to avoid this problem.

New warnings for this release:

• JMRI's scripting support now defaults to the UTF-8 character encoding for all script files on all platforms. This may require that some scripts be re-saved using UTF-8.
• Windows Only The JMRI installer removes the existing lib folder from a JMRI installation when upgrading JMRI. The existing lib folder contents are retained in the backup folder. This means that any files you have added to the lib folder will be removed.
• macOS Only This version includes changes to how the final .dmg file is built, signed and notarized. This was done to increase compatibility with macOS 10.15 Catalina. Please drag the JMRI icon to the Applications folder to install this release. For more information on Catalina compatibility, see the JMRI website.

Older warnings

See the JMRI 4.16 release note for more warnings predating the 4.17 development series. These may be relevant to you if you're updating from an earlier version.

• Since JMRI 4.17.4 Panel file NamedBean items such as Turnouts, Sensors, etc are now written to panel files in order by their Manager system prefix and system name. Previously, they had (roughly) been written in the order they'd be read from the earlier file(s). This will result in a big change to the order the first time a file is re-written, but after that it should be much more stable.
• Since JMRI 4.15.6 Remembering the location and size of layout panels created and maintained using Layout Editor, Panel Editor, Control Panel Editor, and Switchboard Editor is no longer dependent on saving the panel. The location and size values are retained using the same processes used by other JMRI windows. This makes the window management behavior consistent. To continue using the old behavior, go to Preferences >> Display and enable Use old location and size logic for editor panels.
• Since JMRI 4.15.6 Starting in JMRI 4.15.6, Memories must have valid system names of the form "IM" folllowed by something. "IM123" and "IMEAST" are both valid. The system name "IM", all by itself, has never been valid, but JMRI will now be enforcing that:
  • You won't be able to create a memory with that name via the Memory table or scripts
  • If you have that name in a panel file, an error will be logged and the panel file won't load. You'll have to remove it from he file or rename it in the file before loading it.
  JMRI needs to start enforcing this in preparation for some future code that will appear later this year.
• Since JMRI 4.15.5 The handling of Turnout system names has been updated to be (more, hopefully completely) consistent with the planned approach. Specifically, case now (generally) matters in system names:
  • You can now have an internal turnout named "ITsome lower case name".
  • But note you can no longer refer to "ITSOME LOWER CASE NAME" or "ITSome LoWeR cAse Name" and get the same one.
  This should not require any migration for stored configurations or panel files, as they have been automatically been being kept consistent since JMRI 4.8. But you might have case errors in i.e. scripts which will fixing inconsistent references in your scripts. Of course, bugs are always possible. If you find a place where names seem to be handled inconsistently, please let us know!
• Since JMRI 4.15.4 The calculation of Turnout Addresses for the Direct DCC Accessory Command ("a" command) mode has been fixed (commands are now sent to the correct accessory address rather than 4 less than the nominated hardware address). For pre-existing panels, changes will need to be made to either the actual decoder address or the panel. If help is required, ask on the jmriusers group.
• Since JMRI 4.15.3 The prefix that identifies a layout connection should be a single letter, like "N" or "L", or a letter and some digits, like "K2" or "D3". Some older systems used to have longer "legacy system prefixes" like "DX", "DCCPP", "DP", "MR", "MC", "PI", and "TM". Those legacy system prefixes will now cause JMRI to issues a warning at startup. In this release, JMRI will still work with those prefixes, but they will need to be migrated to the proper form soon; JMRI 4.17.1 and later will require that this have been fixed. Therefore, this warning can't be suppressed without migrating the prefix in the connection configuration (and any associated panel files and scripts). If you're getting this warning and therefore need to do that migration, migration page.
• Since JMRI 4.11.4 There are issues with the Pi-SPROG One command station operation. A number of workarounds should be applied:
  • Do not turn on the track power until the power supply to the Pi-SPROG ONE is turned on
  • Do not enable extra debugging through default.lcf, nor open the system console window
  • Do not open the SPROG console window
  • Disable power conversion (CV 29) in all locos
  • If connecting via VNC (or similar), setup the screen layout before turning on the track power
  Pi-SPROG One with version 2.4 or earlier firmware will cause a timeout after a track short circuit. A dialog box will open to inform the user of this. The track power will be turned off and must be turned on again using the power control.

Download links:

Please note that the download links in this and future JMRI releases link to Github servers. People are welcome to distribute the download files further via other websites, etc. If you want to check that you've received original, unmodified versions, please check the files against the checksums shown below.

Changes since Test Release 4.17.4:

The list of included commits is available from our GitHub code repository.

Hardware Support

LocoNet

• Since JMRI 4.17.5 Automatically refresh the slot information when the DCS240/DCS210/DCS52 "Loco Reset" feature is executed as a result of pressing the "Loco Reset" button. This feature is active only when the JMRI connection is configured for DCS240, DCS210, or DCS52 acting as the command station.

OpenLCB / LCC

• Since JMRI 4.17.5 The Traffic Monitor window has additional options to make reading the log easier. A checkbox allows showing the Node Name of the sender of a message. Another checkbox allows showing for Event messages the name(s) that JMRI can deduce about the specific Event ID. These are the same names as shown in the CDI window, usually Sensor and Turnout User Names, as well as references to currently open CDI editor windows that contain the given Event ID.

Layout Editor

• Blocks can be automatically created when assigned to track components in the edit dialogs.

Scripting

• jmri_bindings.py is no longer needed by JMRI to inject default bindings into Jython/Python scripts.
• Jython has been upgraded to version 2.7.1.
• JMRI's scripting support now defaults to the UTF-8 character encoding for all script files on all platforms. This may require that some scripts be re-saved using UTF-8.
• The jython/SetSignalFlashRate.py sample script shows how to change the flashing on/off time for your signals. Just invoke it before defining the signals, i.e. before loading your configuration and panel files.

Signals

• The jython/SetSignalFlashRate.py sample script shows how to change the flashing on/off time for your signals. Just invoke it before defining the signals, i.e. before loading your configuration and panel files.

Tracker

• A Tracker help page is added.
• Tracking can be done with intermediate cars unequippted to draw current.
• Tracker can recover occupation lost due to poor electrical contact.
• Tracking can be followed through dark OBlocks.

Miscellaneous

• Windows Only The JMRI installer removes the existing lib folder from a JMRI installation when upgrading JMRI. The existing lib folder contents are retained in the backup folder. This means that any files you have added to the lib folder will be removed.
• macOS Only This version includes changes to how the distributed files are signed. This includes signing individual libraries, signing libraries inside jar files, signing the three app bundles, and signing the .dmg file itself, followed by notarizing the .dmg file. This was done to increase compatibility with macOS 10.15 Catalina.
• Added basic support for developer architecture checks via ArchUnit, see the Introduction to JMRI Library Structure page.

---