MindMeld Plugin update available on GitHub for Rack 2.3 users ONLY

[steve]

Rack 2.3 introduced some API changes that unfortunately stopped the mapping in PatchMaster working correctly in some scenarios.

We can and have fixed this for Rack 2.3, but the fix relies on the new change in 2.3 API and is therefore not compatible with older versions of Rack. In previous versions the ‘fixed’ plugin won’t load at all… This means we can either offer a plugin that works properly with 2.3, or a plugin that works with older rack versions, but not both.

VCV’s take on this is that all users should just update to Rack 2.3 as it is the latest version and its free to do so. In reality we know that many users don’t do that immediately and it would be a very poor user experience for people using older versions of Rack to see the red update dot, instinctively download the updated MindMeld plugin and… promptly have all their MindMeld modules disappear from their patch without knowing why.

We’d probably get a lot of unhappy emails saying “Your MindMeld plugin broke and now I can’t play my patch!”. That wouldn’t be good…

So with that in mind, we’ve decided the best course of action is to offer an updated version of the MindMeld plugin on our GitHub page for users of Rack 2.3 and above ONLY. If you are using 2.3 or above, please go grab that version.

Meanwhile the older version of the plugin which is compatible with all versions of Rack prior to 2.3 will remain in the library for now so as to minimise disruption to users. We understand that having two different versions of the plugin is not ideal, but due to these ‘circumstances beyond our control’, it seems like the least bad option.

Edit:

@steve

Good news - thanks to the genius of @baconpaul it looks like there’s a workaround that let’s us have the plugin working on all versions. The Github link I posted now includes this fix. If people could please try it out with both the latest Rack 2.3 and earlier versions (please let us know which version you tried it with) that would be most appreciated. If all’s well we’ll submit it to the library soon. Thanks

Release Bug fix in PatchMaster for Rack 2.3.0 · MarcBoule/MindMeldModular

[LarsBjerregaard]

@steve

VCV’s take on this is that all users should just update to Rack 2.3 as it is the latest version and its free to do so.

Technically true but… booo! Andrew definately silently changed his policy and I don’t understand what the new one is. How does backward/forward compatibility in Rack work now? Crickets… Those API changes in the 2.x series are plain wrong if you ask me, they should have just been reverted. But hey… it’s not my project.

Thanks for caring about your users guys! That’s why you’re one of the go-to’s.

[gc3 (gc)]

Thanks for handling this awkward situation gracefully. Oof.

Breaking API changes on point releases really isn’t a tenable situation without some kind of version management in the plugin architecture (even if it’s as simple as “Sorry, can’t load, requires 2.3.”). Especially concerning because, as you point out, the support requests are going to flow downhill to the plugin authors.

[demcanulty (Dan)]

Thanks! Agreed, very graceful handling in a tough spot.

[Ohmer (Dominique Camus)]

Useful information, thanks a lot Steve!

[steve]

I’m reposting Marc’s post from the other more general thread about this issue here as whilst for one module in our plugin this could be considered a ‘breaking’ API change, ours is most likely an edge case so some perspective is warranted.

@marc_boule

Exactly, “breaking” is a variable term, and perhaps too strong a word here, since the 2.3.0 ParamQuantity change (smoothing vs immediate) likely has no effect on 99.99% of plugins. I suspect that VCV deemed the change so minor that it could not have any noticeable effect, and proceeded to do the change, but it so happens that in one of our modules, there was an unforeseen side-effect.

In other words, it’s pehaps hard for VCV to know what all 3000 modules are doing, and as Squinky said, it is indeed not the kind of thing we expect from VCV, but no one’s perfect and software is complex. Perhaps @baconpaul’s solution (5-6 posts up from here) is the best one.

For the record also, it has been said before that when new Rack methods are introduced in minor revisions, if we want to use them in our code, then it is understood that users have to have at least the version of Rack containing that new code, so it’s up to developers to manage this. In the present case though, it was more than this, since to get the former hehavior, we had to use the new methods. But like I said, Paul proposed an intersting workaround that I will explore.

[Rodney]

Thanks, do the premium modules need an update for 2.3 also? After installing the update, I see ShapeMaster 2.2.1 and pro version 2.2.0.

[marc_boule (Marc Boulé)]

ShapeMaster Pro does not require an update, and the version numbers in those two plugins are actually distinct, so they will not evolve in lock-step. Althgouh it might be weird to see SM-Pro at 2.2.0 and SM-Free at 2.2.1, it would be too messy to update the Pro each time the free plugin gets an update.

[steve]

Good news - thanks to the genius of @baconpaul it looks like there’s a workaround that let’s us have the plugin working on all versions. The Github link I posted above now includes this fix. If people could please try it out with both the latest 2.3 and earlier versions (please let us know which version you tried it with) that would be most appreciated. If all’s well we’ll submit it to the library soon. Thanks

[gc3 (gc)]

Further congratulations on and gratitude for an even better outcome (and nice work @baconpaul !!!)

Taking your point that this particular change hits a corner case, maybe it won’t be a serious ongoing issue, but I do hope that Andrew is considering some kind of version-compatibility metadata (which would also help with the more common new API case).