DM42 Firmware Update Policy
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 5:04 pm
As you all know, the DM42's firmware is split into the proprietary operating system, DMCP, and the open source Free42 by Thomas Okken.
DMCP has now matured to the point where we don't anticipate any further development of new features. If bugs are found then of course they will be fixed.
Development of Free42 is, however, still ongoing and we would all like any new features to be present on the DM42. This will continue to be a priority for SwissMicros and we'll always try and keep up. This said, patching stock Free42 to incorporate the changes needed for it to run on the DMCP platform is not trivial, so we're going to start reining back updates from now on, dialling down the frequency to quarterly updates at most.
We'll provide an unscheduled update if there are bugfixes to DMCP. A version of Free42 as recent as possible but at least two weeks old, giving Thomas Okken a chance to fix any bugs that might have crept into it, will be included in the update.
We'll provide an unscheduled update if there is a serious bug (e.g. if it gives numerically incorrect results or causes a crash) in a part of Free42 used by the DM42 (not all of Free42 is used), again waiting for at least two weeks after the fix to allow time for any other bugs uncovered to be fixed before the new version is folded into the DM42.
Scheduled updates will only happen if there is something new to put in the update.
This will allow us to continue to support other existing SwissMicros products and also to work on developing new products.
DMCP has now matured to the point where we don't anticipate any further development of new features. If bugs are found then of course they will be fixed.
Development of Free42 is, however, still ongoing and we would all like any new features to be present on the DM42. This will continue to be a priority for SwissMicros and we'll always try and keep up. This said, patching stock Free42 to incorporate the changes needed for it to run on the DMCP platform is not trivial, so we're going to start reining back updates from now on, dialling down the frequency to quarterly updates at most.
We'll provide an unscheduled update if there are bugfixes to DMCP. A version of Free42 as recent as possible but at least two weeks old, giving Thomas Okken a chance to fix any bugs that might have crept into it, will be included in the update.
We'll provide an unscheduled update if there is a serious bug (e.g. if it gives numerically incorrect results or causes a crash) in a part of Free42 used by the DM42 (not all of Free42 is used), again waiting for at least two weeks after the fix to allow time for any other bugs uncovered to be fixed before the new version is folded into the DM42.
Scheduled updates will only happen if there is something new to put in the update.
This will allow us to continue to support other existing SwissMicros products and also to work on developing new products.