This week lots of things got discussed and explained in the third-party UG meeting. So, we have some information on Second Life™ viewers and some hints on the directions the Lindens are going.
I have some time mark information in my summary. Some of the sections I’ve just said what they are about as the discussion is too time consuming to accurately summarize. These are sections you should watch if you have an interest in the subject.
Alex Ivy has one more bug to fix, an updater problem. It is expected to release Friday, as another RC. With any luck we will see the version go out as the main viewer before Christmas.
There are some challenges getting the Linden Updater working with third-party viewers. Oz Linden says the Lab will work with third-party developers that want help with it.
It is the holidays and everyone is busy. Plus we are coming up on the No-Change-Windows. So, while there is some news, things are slow.
Servers
Last week the email update rolled out. So, if you haven’t verified your email address, you have stopped receiving your offline emails of IM’s.
🐼483🐼
Main Channel – We get an update to version #17.12.01.511131. All we know about this version is there are internal changes.
If you think about the usual pace of server development at the Lab, which we see when shinnies are in progress, and the months of ‘internal improvements’, where we aren’t seeing much change, you start to think the Lab is slacking off. I doubt that.
Since the community is complaining about content theft, we’ve had a few hints they are dealing with it, and we know the Lab doesn’t talk about security fixes… I assume there is quite a bit of work going on to fix exploits. But, we can’t really know.
RC Channels – No update this week. The RC’s will continue to run last week’s version #17.12.01.511131. Mazidox Linden found a bug in the planned updates and stopped the release. So, next week… probably not. That is the start of a no-change-window.
Sunday people were losing their Linden homes. The Lab started looking for the cause Sunday and Monday got it fixed.
Dec 3, 09:38 PST Resolved – We have identified and corrected the issue that caused some Linden Homes to be abandoned. We are working to assist those affected; please file a Support ticket at https://lindenlab.freshdesk.com/support/tickets/new if you need help with this issue.
Dec 2, 20:00 PST Update – We are still actively investigating an issue involving some Linden Homes being abandoned for some Residents. We appreciate your patience while [we] continue to investigate.
Dec 2, 13:49 PST Investigating – We are currently investigating an issue where some users & apos; Linden Homes may have been abandoned inadvertently. If you have been affected by this, please file a support ticket at the following page: https://lindenlab.freshdesk.com/support/tickets/new. Please watch this post for further developments. [ https://status.secondlifegrid.net/incidents/dfgl51dm33lz ]
I was curious what Linden Homes look like these days. They have changed. They are nice. Finding them to look at is a bit trick. The Linden Homes stuff on the website is here: Customize Your Home. I’m not sure this link will work for everyone. It is in your Dashboard->Account->Premium Membership->Explore Your Linden Home. They have pictures in the website. But, I wanted to SEE the homes.
Update: An hour or so after I post the Deploys thread gets an update.
Servers
There is no deploy post this morning (checked at 9:30AM & at 12:30PM). My region ‘restart tracker’ has not seen a restart on the main grid. So, I am assuming no restart or updates this week.
That leaves the main channel running version #17.11.11.510664. As there were no new RC packages last week the RC channels are running the same package. And as there is no Sever-Scripting meeting this week, we don’t know what is planned for Wednesday, if anything. I am guessing nothing.
Update: The RC channels got an update to version #17.11.17.510835. The big change is email.
IMs sent to an offline resident will only be sent to verified email addresses
Internal Changes to Outgoing Emails
The SL Marketplace is having issues. Item listings are disappearing. The Grid Status page states the problem is being investigated.
Viewers
The main viewer is version 5.0.8.329115, which was placed in service week #42.
Second Life Alex Ivy Viewer version 5.1.0.510354 – – No update, released week #44.
Second Life Maintenance Viewer version 5.0.9.329906 – No update, released week #47.
Second Life Voice Viewer version 5.0.8.328552 – No update, released week #42.
Second Life Project 360 Snapshot Viewer version 5.1.0.506743 – No update since week #27. We keep hearing an update is imminent…
Second Life Project Animesh Viewer version 5.0.9.329815 – No update, released week #46.
Second Life Project Render Viewer version 5.1.0.510604 – No update, released week #46. Last week’s article gives you the details of this project.
We are in the holiday season. Things move slowly.
Third-Party Viewers
Nothing new popped up in my Feedly.
So, while I thought last week was a slow news week, this week is shaping up to be even slower.
The Main channel was restarted with version #17.11.11.510664. This update includes Internal Fixes and a fix for BUG-139176 Issue with OBJECT_REZZER_KEY reporting incorrectly after linking and delinking prims. This version has run on the RC channels for a couple of weeks.
The Fire Within
There will be no updates to the RC channel this Wednesday. The next day is a holiday in the USA. So, the RC channels will continue to run the packed just promoted to the main channel.
The internal fixes are typically security fixes and data collection changes. Recent some of those changes had to do with various copy exploits. Simon Linden says they have caught a bunch of people trying to use those exploits.
However, there are still exploits allowing copying without the Lab being able to detect it. So, Simon asks that people keep filing JIRA and Abuse Reports. Lindens are still working on closing the exploits. So, the reports guide their work. Help by filing a report, if you have actionable information.
Alex Ivy RC Viewer is holding up well in testing. Actually, better than ever.
There is the one startup crash, they haven’t been able to reproduce. The one they think likely from benchmarking crashing systems. They think they have a fix. The supposed fix will be in next update of Alex Ivy, likely arriving from QA just after Thanksgiving. If that fixes the crashes, then they will be ready to release Alex Ivy in Early December as the main viewer.
Zenos Profile Photo
This is sort of a big deal. I’ve been using 64-bit viewers almost exclusively. They are WAY more stable than 32-bit viewers. If you are not running a 64-bit OS, update ASAP.
When Alex Ivy is released the Lab will have a 32 & 64-bit Windows viewer. They have a 64-bit Mac viewer and no 32-bit Mac.
Linux
If things go as planned, they will build a Debian 64-bit Linux viewer. They will not be able to put much time in on QA. But, they plan to get a Linux build out.
The Lab is counting on the community to provide QA and fixes. Otherwise, this won’t be a working Linux version. Think of the Lab as providing the foundation. The rest is up to the community.
Oz Linden tells us there is a 64-bit Linux version in the Rendering branch. More about the rendering branch below.
