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New file feature: change logs

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Some of the site features I have in the pipe-line or on the to-do list right now are focusing on trying to reduce the amount of clutter mod authors put in their file descriptions by providing them separate areas to list important information. One thing that I know many users find annoying is having to try and find a description of a mod underneath all the other information mod authors feel is more important than actually describing what their mod does. Popular things to put at tops of pages are news, bug reports, requests for help, notifications that help won't be offered, requests for endorsements and the full file version history/change log. Personally I think you should describe what your mod does first, and then provide all the additional information afterwards.

Something I've been meaning to get around to for a while now is a feature that creates a special area for mod authors to list their change logs for their files. Today I've implemented that feature and mod authors can now access the change log feature from their management area.

Inputting all the changes you've made to your file over time and the different version histories is very handy for users who keep up-to-date on your files so they can see what's been updated and what's been fixed. Mod authors should put in a change per line, and a bulleted list will automatically be created by the site for each version of your file that you add a change log for.

Once you've added a change log for your file it will be visible on a file page by clicking the "View change log" link under "Options". Similarly if you link up your version numbers on your files with the version numbers in your change log then a new link will be visible for those files that will show the specific change log for that version. So if you've added change logs for version 1.42 of your file and version 1.42 is available to download in the files tab, you can click on the change log link to see updates in that version of the file.

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  1. jaime74
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    It should be fixed for letters and numbers; give it a test. It works for me!

    YES, you're right! Now it works! <img class=">
    Thanks a lot, Dark0ne!
  2. Riven1978
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    And I can Confirm is working now I have tried a few <img class=">
  3. Dark0ne
    Dark0ne
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    It should be fixed for letters and numbers; give it a test. It works for me!
  4. jaime74
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    I think I've fixed the issue with the change log links for specific versions. The issue was when you used letters and numbers together in your versioning, hence why some people said it worked while others said it didn't.

    Thanks for your answer, Dark0ne!

    I am not sure whether I understand it correctly, though: By fixed the issue, do you mean that using mixed letters and numbers should work now, or should it not. If the latter is true, I can simply change my version number from 2.6a to 2.6.1, that's not a problem. But I'd like to be sure before doing so, because changing version numbers in the middle of everything will cause some confusion for the users of my mod.

    Furthermore, given that mixed letters and numbers are not supported, I think that it could be helpful to have a comment about it in the change log editing form.

    Anyway, I am very glad that you're having a look into this! <img class=">
  5. jaime74
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    (post deleted, because it was an accidental double-post)
  6. Dark0ne
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    I think I've fixed the issue with the change log links for specific versions. The issue was when you used letters and numbers together in your versioning, hence why some people said it worked while others said it didn't.
  7. jaime74
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    jaime74, both changelog links on both pages work fine for me.

    Ok, thanks!
    So this means: There are some people for whom it works, and some (like me or Riven1978 and maybe also SomeWelshGuy) for whom it doesn't.

    So what else can I do? How to proceed with this? Apart from trying different browsers and making sure that there's no popup blocker (as described earlier), I have no more idea, being left alone with this problem <img class=">
    So (given that nobody of the makers will pick up this issue and take care of it), I'll probably have to give up once more. This was my second attempt now to use this change log, so I'll finally leave it be and switch back to the good old readme.
  8. pintocat
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    jaime74, both changelog links on both pages work fine for me.
  9. jaime74
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    Good point but another good counter point is the way this distributed network is setup. I have seen in the past where you can upload a file with a specific name, then later delete it and try to re-upload it only to get an error. I cannot remember the exact scenario but it was related to whether the file was over 2 MB and was sent to the various file mirrors. The deletion was not fan'd out to the distributed servers before the re-upload happened and it caused contention between the new file process and the distributed deletion process. This may have been accounted in the code since then but it was related to deletion of a file and re-upload of a file with the same name on the same mod page (different mod pages use a different file key which will never conflict with any other upload page).


    Just for clarification, to avoid confusion, and to avoid going off-topic:
    In my case, I did not re-upload an existing file with the same version number, but a completely new file!
    So I think that the change log issue is not simply related to the situation SomeWelshGuy described (though I agree with him that it might be the same bug, and I also agree with LHammonds that re-uploading is not a good practice! <img class=">)
    It just wanted to point to the fact that the change log issue should be solved somehow to raise acceptance of the change log feature <img class=">

    P.S.: @pintocat: I am still looking forward to your confirmation - can you reproduce the error using the links I posted below?
  10. LHammonds
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    Yeah I agree. But it was up for 2 seconds, the file was set to hidden so no-one downloaded the file, so on this occasion I didn't find it really necessary.

    Good point but another good counter point is the way this distributed network is setup. I have seen in the past where you can upload a file with a specific name, then later delete it and try to re-upload it only to get an error. I cannot remember the exact scenario but it was related to whether the file was over 2 MB and was sent to the various file mirrors. The deletion was not fan'd out to the distributed servers before the re-upload happened and it caused contention between the new file process and the distributed deletion process. This may have been accounted in the code since then but it was related to deletion of a file and re-upload of a file with the same name on the same mod page (different mod pages use a different file key which will never conflict with any other upload page).