Release Notes for JMRI 4.19.4 release

Date: March 10, 2020

From: Bob Jacobsen

Subject: Test Release 4.19.4 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

• None

New warnings for this release:

• Manager.getSystemNameArray() has been removed after being deprecated for two years. Please migrate to using Manager.getNamedBeanSet() instead. If you really must have an array, use Manager.getNamedBeanSet().toSet()

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 4.19.3 Manager.getSystemNameArray() has been removed after being deprecated for two years. Please migrate to using Manager.getNamedBeanSet() instead. If you really must have an array, use Manager.getNamedBeanSet().toArray(); see this tutorial for examples.
• Since JMRI 4.19.3 The JavaCSV API has been replaced with the Apache Commons CSV API. This may impact some scripts. See TurnoutStatePersistence.py for an example of how to use the new CSV parsing API. If unable to use the new API, the JAR for the old API can be downloaded and added to jmri.conf using the --cp:a=path/to/javacsv.jar parameter.
• Since JMRI 4.19.1 JMRI now enforces 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.
• Since JMRI 4.19.1 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.
• 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 Test Release 4.19.3:

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

Hardware Support

MERG CBUS

• Track Current Meter + Command Station Steal / Share are available unless proved otherwise.
• Node Manager and Event Table no longer auto-start on JMRI startup.
  These can be added as Startup Actions in JMRI Preferences to enable
  Event or Node name translation in CBUS console, and other CBUS Tools.
• Refactoring of CBUS OPC's, Filters and Node Manger functions for future maintainability.
• Bootloader client for CBUS node firmware update.
• Support for SPROG Generation 5 hardware using MERG CBUS and Gridconnect.

SPROG

• Connection methods for SPROG Generation 5 hardware using MERG CBUS/Gridconnect.

Signals

Cab Signals

• Better set row height in table.

Where Used

• The new Where Used tool is used to search JMRI for references to a selected item.

Virtual Sound Decoder

• Included the VSDecoderID instead of the file name to make the AudioBuffer system names unique for Diesel3Sound.
• Made the VSD loop-player more robust. Another change concerns the timing. Depending on the speed of the computer hardware, the timing of the loop-player (sleep-interval) can now be adjusted.

Miscellaneous

• The toString() method is NamedBeans has been standardized to return the system name. There's an extension mechanism to add additional information if needed.
• An internal library used for compilation has been updated from the NetBeans 11.0 version to the NetBeans 11.3 (current) version.
• The internal SMTP classes have been removed. Any users who depended on that capability should manually add smtp.jar from JavaMail to the JMRI classpath (see Startup Scripts)

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