Development builds: Difference between revisions

From Official Kodi Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Current nightlies are for Leia and stable is Krypton)
(Update the lead paragraph with current information about what the latest stable release is and what version nightly builds will be targeting)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{mininav| [[Development]] {{l2| [[Installing]] }} }}
{{mininav| [[Development]] {{l2| [[Installing]] }} }}
These development builds, often called "pre-release" builds, are what will eventually lead to the final v18 "Leia" version. In contrast to the stable builds (v17 "Krypton") you don't have to wait for the release in order to benefit from new features or fixes that made it into Kodi.
These development builds, often called "pre-release" builds, are what will eventually lead to the release of Kodi version 19, codenamed "Matrix." In contrast to the stable builds ([https://kodi.tv/article/kodi-leia-183-release Kodi 18.3 "Leia," as of June 27, 2019]) you don't have to wait for the next version to be finished in order to benefit from the development that has occurred in the codebase, such as new features or bug fixes, since the last official release.


{{highlight|color=#FFD900|<big>'''THESE BUILDS ARE OFTEN UNSTABLE''' and are only for users that do not fear bugs or occasional crashes. They are mostly used for development to help us in testing for the upcoming releases. If you want a stable HTPC then please install a '''[http://kodi.tv/downloads/ stable build]''' instead.</big>}}
{{highlight|color=#FFD900|<big>'''THESE BUILDS ARE OFTEN UNSTABLE''' and are only for users that do not fear bugs or occasional crashes. They are mostly used for development to help us in testing for the upcoming releases. If you want a stable HTPC then please install a '''[http://kodi.tv/downloads/ stable build]''' instead.</big>}}

Revision as of 03:35, 28 July 2019

Home icon grey.png   ▶ Development
▶ Installing
▶ Development builds

These development builds, often called "pre-release" builds, are what will eventually lead to the release of Kodi version 19, codenamed "Matrix." In contrast to the stable builds (Kodi 18.3 "Leia," as of June 27, 2019) you don't have to wait for the next version to be finished in order to benefit from the development that has occurred in the codebase, such as new features or bug fixes, since the last official release.

THESE BUILDS ARE OFTEN UNSTABLE and are only for users that do not fear bugs or occasional crashes. They are mostly used for development to help us in testing for the upcoming releases. If you want a stable HTPC then please install a stable build instead.

Unstable - Nightly builds

Note: Nightly builds are now based on v18 code, which might be very unstable as the v18 cycle has just started.

Nightly Builds are made on a daily basis and contain the most recent changes. They are also the most unstable of the development builds, until "feature freeze" where only bug fixes are made.

Make sure you always download and run the most recent builds.

ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR SETTINGS WHEN USING THESE BUILDS

http://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/

Note: If you are using a Windows nightly build please also download the .pdb file with the same version from our mirrors, rename it to Kodi.pdb and place it alongside the Kodi.exe inside the installation folder. Re-download the correct file each time you are installing another nightly build. This helps us to identify possible crashes.

Semi-stable - Monthly, Beta, and Release candidate builds

Monthly
Monthly builds ( http://mirrors.kodi.tv/snapshots/ ) are semi-stable nightly snapshots of the current development version. They are a step between (often) unstable nightly builds and stable release builds, though they can sometimes still be very unstable.
Beta
When Kodi gets close to a stable release, public betas will be released. These are similar to nightlies and monthlies in that they still contain bugs, but are more stable and are encouraged to be tried out. At the point where Kodi reaches beta, most known bugs have been fixed, and developers are now looking for bugs they might not know about.
Release candidate
When Kodi beta gets to a point where it seems ready for a final release a "Release Candidate", or "RC", is released to flesh out any final bugs. Depending on any issues found, there may be multiple release candidates.
Final release
After release candidates comes a final stable build that becomes Kodi v16.0. In some cases there are additional bugfix releases even after "final", but even those bugfix releases go through their own mini-cycle of testing.

ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR SETTINGS WHEN USING THESE BUILDS


Note: Windows testers: If you are using a Windows nightly build please also download the .pdb file and place it alongside the Kodi.exe inside the installation folder. Re-download the correct file each time you are installing another build. This helps us to identify possible crashes.

Special notes about development builds

Bugs
As development builds are bleeding edge code you might find a bug here and there. In order to get rid of this bugs, it's important that these will be reported: HOW-TO:Submit a bug report.
Feature requests
If you have a feature that you think should be added to appear in the next stable version of Kodi, you can make a feature request: HOW-TO:Submit an official feature request.

Notes

  1. Particularly notable for MySQL compatibility, among other things. See Databases#Database_Versions for more details.

See also