2006 June

published on Wednesday 21 June, 2006 at 3:17 pm. {Share Your Thoughts}

What’s New

Additions:
- Added real version comparison courtesy Kevin Ballard: Sparkle now knows that 0.89 < 1.0a3 < 1.0.
- Added many localizations courtesy David Kocher’s localization team.
- Added a much better installation mechanism courtesy Allan Odgaard.
- Added a user agent string to the RSS fetch request.
- Added support for CFBundleShortVersionString in addition to CFBundleVersion, and support for a sparkle:shortVersionString attribute on the enclosure.
- Added support for CFBundleDisplayName if available.
Changes:
- Automatic updating is now allowed by default, but only if DSA signing is on.
- Pressing Escape or closing the update alert now reminds the user later.
- Now when there’s a stored check interval, Sparkle doesn’t check immediately on startup the first time the app is launched because the user hasn’t consented to it yet.
- The update alert now remembers its size and floats.
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed installation of DMGs with multiple files enclosed.
- Fixed a nasty memory leak.
- Fixed a bug wherein having no value for allowing automatic updates would display a checkbox for the updates but would not honor it.
- Fixed a bug in zip extraction that occurred in Panther.
- Fixed release notes caching.
- Fixed a bug wherein Sparkle refused to authenticate the installation if the user had cancelled authentication previously in that session.
- Fixed a weird bug that would cause a second help menu to appear on first launch.
- Fixed a bug that could occur when changing the scheduled check interval.
- Fixed a bug wherein the host app could crash if the user clicked Remind Me Later before the release notes finished loading.
- Fixed a bug wherein the behavior was undefined if the user manually initiated a check when an automatic one was already taking place.
- Fixed wrapping on the description field in the update alert.

published on Monday 19 June, 2006 at 1:10 am. {4 Comments}

Pixen began in a dorm room. This was ideal for a couple of reasons. First, it was a relaxed atmosphere with lots of distractions. It seems counter-intuitive, but sometimes in a big project, you need distractions to do a good job. Secondly, it meant that we were able to work together in person.

I don’t think the value of working face-to-face with your teammates can be understated. I mean, yes, I’m a big open-source fanatic, and tons of these projects have gone far through years of decentralized work. So I don’t think it’s impossible to accomplish something while physically alone, but I do think it’s a lot more difficult.

Being together meant we could motivate each other, help each other out more readily, and jump directly on another’s computer when something was giving trouble. We could high-five each other when things went well or make Wookie noises with each other when things went badly. And we could take a break to grab pizza or play play Smash Brothers.

I really think it’s an ideal working environment.

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