Download Archives missing versions above 3.0.5 on OSUSOL, version below 3.0.2 missing on GitHub releases
Reported version
3.1
Type
musescore.org
Frequency
Once
Severity
S4 - Minor
Reproducibility
Always
Status
by design
Regression
Yes
Workaround
Yes
Project
The page
https://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/musescore/releases/
linked from
https://musescore.org/en/download#older-versions
only includes entries up to 3.0.5
Please add links for the latest, e.g. 3.1.0 - 3.2.3?
This is especially frustrating since one cannot get to older versions via their announcements / release notes, as these link to a symbolic link, which points to the latest version.
Comments
All the others (actually all since 3.0.2) are available from GitHub directly: https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/releases
Going there was a deliberate decision, to improve download speed (amongst other things?)
Adjusting those release notes links should be possible (to Anatoly),
Regression: older versions are linked.
Workaround: we have the github links
How can it be by design to have up to some versions in one page and others on a second. At least add a link to github on the older versions section stating what can be found where.
I believe the links to the symlinks / latest in the forum announcements are intentional (this is a side issue) so that users will not download an old version when a newer has been released (e.g. herd users to the latest). I think this can be improved on and will log a separate issue.
The move to GitHub releases was indeed on purpose and as such by design. And set to that by me.
Maybe we can move/copy the missing MuseScore 3.0 and 3.0.1 to github too, to have at least the 3.x series complete there, and then point to that on the download page, and point to OSUOSL only for the older 1.x and 2.x stuff?
Apologies. I see you set it to "by design". I am concerned that this will not get attention in that state.
It won't, as with that if falls into the category of 'Closed' (but I've made Anatoly aware via Telegram)
The github page loses some of the navigatability of osuosl. What is more satisfying than that seeing that list of version numbers to drill down into?
Compare that with scrolling down and down until you find the version you looking for, then expand assets. Is there a different view that will just list the assets?
As long as users can find older versions I don't mind. Looking in 2 different places is not ideal but very manageable if users have clear version indications for each, e.g.
https://musescore.org/en/download#older-versions
Section "Other versions for all platforms"
(itself no longer a link):
* MuseScore 3.x
* MuseScore 1.x & 2.x
> What is more satisfying than that seeing that list of version numbers to drill down into?
Not having to pay.
GitHub releases is free. I think OSUSOL is free too, but is only really intended for small open source projects that cannot afford to pay for their own servers and bandwidth. Now that MuseScore is hugely successful and downloaded thousands of times every day, I suspect that OSUSOL's patience was starting to wear thin. My guess is that the new strategy for regular updates was the catylst for the move to GitHub. MuseScore's files are really big, and everybody has to download them again every 3 or 4 weeks when an update is released. The fact that updates are now automatic was probably the final straw.
I don't know whether OSUSOL insisted on the move, or whether MuseScore simply decided it was unfair to stay, but if commercial sites like GitHub are going to offer free downloads then it only seems right that we should use that instead of taking advantage of donated resources. Plus, GitHub provides a rich API for uploading and downloading content, and I suspect that it's servers are probably more reliable than OSUSOL's (higher uptime, available in more places), not that I have noticed any problems with either service.
I agree that the way GitHub's releases are presented to users is not ideal, but I don't think it is of serious concern. Still, it would be nice if everything was available in one place.
IIRC download bandwidth was the main reason