Release Notes for JMRI 5.5.2 release
Date: July 14, 2023
From: Bob Jacobsen
Subject: Test Release 5.5.2 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 5.5.* test releases.
It requires Java 11 to work.
(See our page on downloading Java 11)
We expect this series to end in the next JMRI 5.6 production release in December 2023.
(See the tentative release schedule)
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 a version older than JMRI 5.0, please follow these instructions carefully:
- Is your current version older than JMRI 4.12?
If so, then update to JMRI 4.12 first, and ensure everything works correctly: check
start-up, check things you need to be working, and check the JMRI log as well) before doing anything else.
Store your configuration and panel files under a new name and use those from now on.
Then continue with step 2.
If you are currently using JMRI 4.7.3 or earlier on Linux or macOS (Windows doesn't need this),
then it's very important
that you update to JMRI 4.12 and
carrying out the migration process described in the JMRI 4.12 release note
before updating to any later release.
- Is your current version older than JMRI 4.20?
Then update to JMRI 4.20 first, and ensure that works correctly (check
start-up, check things you need to be working, and check the JMRI log as well) before doing anything else.
Save your preferences again.
Store your configuration and panel files under a new name, use those from now on, and go on to step 3.
- Is your current version older than JMRI 4.24?
Then update to JMRI 4.24 first, and ensure that works correctly (check
start-up, check things you need to be working, and check the JMRI log as well) before doing anything else.
Save your preferences again.
Store your configuration and panel files under a new name and use those from now on.
- Is your current version older than JMRI 5.0?
Then update to JMRI 5.0 first, and ensure that works correctly (check
start-up, check things you need to be working, and check the JMRI log as well) before doing anything else.
Save your preferences again.
Store your configuration and panel files under a new name and use those from now on.
- You can then install this release.
Following this multi-step order of updating via stable major releases safeguards you against possible migration issues
that can arise from skipping these versions.
New problems with this release
New warnings for this release:
Older warnings
See the
JMRI 5.4 release note for more warnings predating the 5.5 development series,
including pointers to various migration issues.
These may be relevant to you if you're updating from an earlier version;
we strongly recommend you update to at least
JMRI 5.0
before installing this test release.
See
instructions above.
- Since JMRI 4.99.1
This test release, and all subsequent ones, require the use of
Java 11 or later. Java 8 is explicitly not supported.
There's more information on this migration on the
JMRI Tech Road Map and
JVM Capabilities pages.
- Since JMRI 5.3.2
Some images in the resources/icons folder have been renamed.
Spaces have been changed to underscore. It's images in the
resources/icons/ItalianSignals/ACEI,
resources/icons/ItalianSignals/Prototypical,
resources/icons/smallschematics/aspects/NW-1981,
resources/icons/smallschematics/aspects/NYC-1956,
xml/signals/FS-1987, xml/signals/NW-1981,
xml/signals/NYC-1956 and resources/icons/SNCF/Small
folders that have been renamed. If you are using these images directly, you will need to update the reference.
- Since JMRI 5.3.7
The definition of "Last Seen" for Id Tags has been
clarified to mean "Location where the tag was last seen to be present".
Previously, a report that a tag was absent could be remembered as the
last seen report. The relevant code changes are specific to LocoNet
Reporters. This might affect your scripts and LogixNG if you were assuming
the prior behavior.
- Since JMRI 5.3.7
Some Reporters, particularly LocoNet, would improperly clear an "enter" report
when an "exits" report for the same tag was seen elsewhere. This was an
error that has been fixed, but if you have scripts or LogixNG that depend on
this behavior you might have to update them.
Download links:
These files are located in the
JMRI 5.5.2 GitHub release.
The
list of included changes is available from our
GitHub code repository.
As a perhaps interesting note, this release includes the
9,000th merged Pull Request for JMRI.
That's the 9,000th contributed change made to the code and documentation. See the
Acknowledgements page
for the list of people who've contributed these updates.
Hardware Support
LocoNet
- Shutdown LocoNetOverTcp connection cleanly when program ends
- Added two new jython/LCC/CSVToNodeBackup.py and
jython/LCC/NodeBackupToCSV.py scripts for converting
node backup files back and forth to CSV files.
Layout Editor
- A number of issues with the Shape tool have been resolved including Java
exceptions and the possibility of truncated shape lines.
- The Layout Editor help page has been updated with details for using Shapes.
- Previously, Reporter icons would display
"<no report>" when the report information was null, i.e. there was no
information available from the Reporter. This has been changed
to a hyphen ("-") when there's no information available to reduce screen
clutter on complex panels.
LogixNG
- The expression File as flag has been added. It returns true if
a particular file exists.
Operations
- Improvements to the routing code. Program will not use an interchange track if the same
train can drop and pull a car.
- Fixed a bug with export routes.
- Fixed close on Save for several windows.
Scripting
- Add "idtags" as a script shortcut to the manager like "turnouts" and "sensors"
Web Server
- json car, engine: remove location, set unknown flag, remove from train
Virtual Sound Decoder
- Added LayoutEditor turntable support for VSD navigation through a panel.
Miscellaneous
- A signal handler has been added to the Shutdown manager such that a
"kill <pid>" command on Mac or Linux will do a normal shutdown.
This is particularly useful for e.g. running headless on an RPi.
"kill -HUP <pid>" will cause JMRI to quit and restart.
In addition, the Mac and Linux startup scripts were updated to
pass these signals on to the running process. Together, this
will allow you to run JMRI as a service on Mac and Linux, including the RPi.
