Issues updating to OH 3.2

[Bruce_Osborne]

@AndiS

I could not for the life of me install an older version of openHAB via openhabian. It always automagically upgraded to the current 3.2 version after install.

That IS a pain then. Sorry but I am out of ideas.

[AndiS (Andreas)]

@mstormi

No, that’s a user’s own duty.
Restoring a (config) backup taken on a software version A to that software’s version B is a fundamental user mistake.
Devs can easily waste time of theirs adding all sorts of checks but in the end no software can sufficiently prevent users from doing silly things and there is no alternative to understanding the thing right.

You know, I also do some software development, and would sometimes even sympathize with your point of view. But in reality, it is rather arrogant!

For example, I was pretty surprised to discover that the backup archive included not only the configuration changes made by the user but lots of specific installation details (like paths etc.) which lead to the described problem. Now, I do not debate this approach itself, since I’m sure there were good reasons for taking it. But I have seen this done differently in other software projects and cross version restores are NOT always a fundamental mistake, but even supported.

As an example, back in openHab 1.x days, the upgrade instructions pretty much went like: “create new install - copy over old config - done”

So I do think it is too easy, even for experienced users to fall into this trap. I do not say openHAB should allow for cross-version backups, but this is NOT documented well enough.

(Later edit: The problem we’re talking about ist not only that cross version restores do not work. If you try to restore a 3.1 backup to a 3.2 install you will break openHAB and have to do a fresh installation!)

Now can I fix it myself and send a pull request. Maybe but to be honest probably not. I unfortunately have too many eggs in my basket already and can easily avoid the problem in the future. Maybe I could add some warnings to the documentation, let’s see.

[AndiS (Andreas)]

@Bruce_Osborne

That IS a pain then. Sorry but I am out of ideas.

You don’t need to be sorry. True, it IS a pain, but this is why I documented how to get out of it

[Bruce_Osborne]

I took a different route & left OH

[Oliver2 (Oliver)]

@AndiS

I do not say openHAB should allow for cross-version backups

I do
I also work in software industry allthough not as a developer.
It is good “behaviour” if the software keeps config data and project data as long as possible backward compatible.
Of course major releases require from time to time (3-5 years) compatibility breaks but those shouldn’t be every year (but I have to admit I don’t know how many of those breaks openhab had).