Release Notes for JMRI 4.19.1 release

Date: December 31, 2019

From: Bob Jacobsen

Subject: Test Release 4.19.1 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 in early summer 2020. (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 without errors during startup or on the JMRI log. Once you have JMRI 4.12 running OK, store your configuration and panel files and use those from then on. There have been 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.

If you are currently using JMRI 4.17.7 or earlier, including if the previous paragraphs convinced you to update to JMRI 4.12, we strongly recommend that you update to JMRI 4.18 and make sure that's running without errors during startup or on the JMRI log. Once you have JMRI 4.18 running OK, store your configuration and panel files and use those from then on. There have been changes panel file format and configuration options since earlier releases, and moving to the stable JMRI 4.18 release is a good way to work through any possible problems.

Known problems with this release

• There have been reports of strange function key behavior.

New warnings for this release:

• JMRI 4.19.1 and later enforce the standard form of system names, where the system is denoted by a single letter or a letter plus digits. Some users of JMRI 4.18 or earlier might have incompatible values. If you have one of these hardware connections:
  • Anyma DX512 using “DX”
  • DCC++ using “DCCPP"
  • DCC4PC using “DP"
  • JSON client using “json”
  • MRC using “MR"
  • Marklin CS2 using “MC"
  • Raspberry PI using “PI"
  • TAMS using “TM”
  you may have to migrate. Please update to JMRI 4.18 prior to installing JMRI 4.19.1 (or later) and check the JMRI Console to see if there are any instructions there. See the migration page for additional information.
• The getBeanByUserName and getBeanBySystemName calls in the various Manager classes are no longer needed with Java 8 and have been deprecated for eventual removal. Their replacements are getByUserName and getBySystemName respectively. If you use getBeanByUserName and getBeanBySystemName in script or Java code you've written, please switch to the new names.

Older warnings

See the JMRI 4.18 release note for more warnings predating the 4.19 development series, including pointers to various migration issues. These may be relevant to you if you're updating from an earlier version.

• Since JMRI 4.17.5 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.
• Since JMRI 4.17.5 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.
• Since JMRI 4.17.5 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.
• 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 4.11.4 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 Production Release 4.18:

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

Hardware Support

• JMRI 4.19.1 and later enforce the standard form of system names, where the system is denoted by a single letter or a letter plus digits. Some users of JMRI 4.18 or earlier might have incompatible values. See warnings above.

Layout Editor

• George Warner added "Align to grid" options
• George Warner added the ability to rotate the Layout Editor display

Signals

Signal Systems

• Improved how the XML files defining a signal system are validated. Unfortunately, some files are already inconsistent. Fixed a number of files with invisible appearance definitions by duplicating the appearance file (i.e. adding a -b version with the different appearances). Temporarily commented out some of the schema checks until the existing files can be resolved.
• Bob Milhaupt and Greg McCarthy updated the B&O semaphore, NW-1981, SOU-1981 and WM-1980 signal systems to correct some internal inconsistencies.

Miscellaneous

• The JMRI Demo shortcut has been removed from Windows installs
• The getBeanByUserName and getBeanBySystemName calls in the various Manager classes are no longer needed with Java 8 and have been deprecated for eventual removal. Their replacements are getByUserName and getBySystemName respectively. If you use getBeanByUserName and getBeanBySystemName in script or Java code you've written, please switch to the new names.

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