[chirp_users] Which version do I really have?

[Jim Unroe]

On Tue, Jan 5, 2021 at 9:58 AM Glenn K0LNY <glennervin at cableone.net> wrote:
>
> Hi Don,
> It is my opinion that if your radio is in the list, and the program works, then there is no reason to worry if you have the latest version.
> If you have a version from two years ago, and your radio is in the list of radios, chances are that you will have no benefit from having a newer version of Chirp.
> Now if your radio was recently added to the list, then I can understand you wanting the latest version.
> Glenn

I don't completely agree. For example the original developer of the
AnyTone AT-778UV chose to only add support for the per-channel
settings of this model (and its variants). So for the sake of argument
you could say the radio was "in the list" and "the program works". I
then later added support for the global settings broken down into
something like 3 or 4 separate patches. Not updating because this
radio was already supported and working would miss out on all of these
newly added settings.

I have 18 patches in the queue waiting for approval. The majority of
them are nothing but cosmetic cleanup of the CHIRP driver code. There
would be absolutely no need for anyone to update solely on those
changes. But a couple of them are updates to existing and working
models that would be useful for owners of those models to get.

My philosophy is that you don't need to update unless...

1 a bug in CHIRP or a radio model that you own that affects you has
been addressed
2 support has been added for a radio that you own
3 additional settings and/or features have been added to a currently
supported model that you own

The build message includes a summary of what has been changed and is
what I use to determine if I need to update right away or not.

Jim KC9HI