Release Notes for JMRI 5.9.3 release
Date: August 18, 2024
From: Daniel Bergqvist
Subject: Test Release 5.9.3 of JMRI/DecoderPro is available for download.
Notes:
This is a test release. Please
post a note
if you encounter any new or old bugs!
And please back up your JMRI files before installing this, in case you want to go
back to an earlier version.
This is the next in a series of 5.9.* test releases.
It requires at least Java 11 to work.
We recommend that you use Java 17.
(See our page on downloading Java)
We expect this series to end in the next JMRI production release in December 2024.
(See the tentative release schedule)
Some of the changes involved are quite extensive.
They may require a certain amount of experience before they are working well.
Therefore, this test release should be considered experimental.
We would appreciate your feedback on it.
JMRI is now only available under the
GNU General Public License. For more information, please
see our
copyright and licensing page.
Update From Older JMRI Versions
If you are currently using a version older than JMRI 5.0, please follow these instructions carefully:
- Is your current version older than JMRI 4.12?
If so, then update to JMRI 4.12 first, and ensure everything works correctly: check
start-up, check things you need to be working, and check the JMRI log as well) before doing anything else.
Store your configuration and panel files under a new name and use those from now on.
Then continue with step 2.
If you are currently using JMRI 4.7.3 or earlier on Linux or macOS (Windows doesn't need this),
then it's very important
that you update to JMRI 4.12 and
carrying out the migration process described in the JMRI 4.12 release note
before updating to any later release.
- Is your current version older than JMRI 4.20?
Then update to JMRI 4.20 first, and ensure that works correctly (check
start-up, check things you need to be working, and check the JMRI log as well) before doing anything else.
Save your preferences again.
Store your configuration and panel files under a new name, use those from now on, and go on to step 3.
- Is your current version older than JMRI 4.24?
Then update to JMRI 4.24 first, and ensure that works correctly (check
start-up, check things you need to be working, and check the JMRI log as well) before doing anything else.
Save your preferences again.
Store your configuration and panel files under a new name and use those from now on.
- Is your current version older than JMRI 5.0?
Then update to JMRI 5.0 first, and ensure that works correctly (check
start-up, check things you need to be working, and check the JMRI log as well) before doing anything else.
Save your preferences again.
Store your configuration and panel files under a new name and use those from now on.
- You can then install this release.
Following this multi-step order of updating via stable major releases safeguards you against possible migration issues
that can arise from skipping these versions.
New problems with this release
New warnings for this release:
Older warnings
See the
JMRI 5.8 release note for more warnings predating the 5.9 development series,
including pointers to various migration issues.
These may be relevant to you if you're updating from an earlier version;
we strongly recommend you update to at least
JMRI 5.0
before installing this test release.
See
instructions above.
- Since JMRI 4.99.1
This test release, and all subsequent ones, require the use of
Java 11 or later.
We recommend that you use Java 17.
Java 8 is explicitly not supported.
There's more information on this migration on the
JMRI Tech Road Map and
JVM Capabilities pages.
- Since JMRI 5.7.1
Several systems have had extensive updates to their serial
support. If you have trouble connecting to your layout hardware
after installing this version, please contact us
on the JMRIusers list
for assistance.
- Since JMRI 4.7.7
If you are using a RR-CirKits LocoNet to LCC gateway
with this release, please upgrade its firmware
to version B8g or later. B8f or earlier will
have trouble updating the gateway's configuration.
Download links:
These files are located in the
JMRI 5.9.3 GitHub release.
The
full list of included changes is available from our
GitHub code repository.
Hardware Support
Bachrus Speedo
- Revamped the Bachrus speed matcher to support configuration and different styles of speedmatching
- Added ability to manually read and set a locomotive's momentum
- Basic Speed matcher
- Matches a locomotive to the given starting and top speeds
- Can use the basic motor control CVs, the speed table, or ESU's speed table
- Can configure if and how long the locomotive is warmed up and whether reverse is trimmed to match forward
- Speed Step Scale Speed matcher
- Matches a locomotive to the speed step in 128 speed step mode (for example, locomotive goes 11 mph or kph at speed step 11 in 128 speed step mode) up to the given max speed
- Can use the speed table or ESU's speed table
- Can configure if and how long the locomotive is warmed up and whether reverse is trimmed to match forward
- BiDiB now uses JSerialComm instead of PureJavaComm - no user impact.
MQTT
- Set the max-in-flight number to 100 to avoid overflow errors.
- Updates the OpenLCB library so that
- You can write configuration information to a node
even if one or more items are out of range.
- The new <action> element in CDI
will be properly displayed.
- The CDI can now hint that a slider should be displayed for an integer
- A bug when displaying String variables with 0x0A newline characters has been fixed
- When an integer variable is displayed as a map and an unmapped value is
encountered, it's now displayed as "Reserved: nnn"
New / Updated decoder definitions
Trix Modelleisenbahn
- New definition for the Trix Sound BR23 (22230) decoder
Web Access
- new parameter ("protect=yes") to treat web-panel as read-only
Web Server
- alternate "Conductor" webpage, with Id-Tag updates (eg. RFID), and showing current train composition.
Miscellaneous
- Permissions are now added to JMRI. It
allows you to password protect some parts of JMRI. For
now, you can protect Load and Store of table content
and panel files. And you can protect the preferences.
Permissions are disabled by default so you need to
enable them to use them. For more information, see the
documentation.