When an author publishes a new version of a package on asterobot.net, nothing changes in your library until you ask. You check for updates, install the new version next to the one you have, move your bots to it when it suits you, then remove the old version. Only packages installed from the marketplace can be updated this way.
1. Check for updates
In Library Manager, click Check for updates, at the top left of the page.
Asterobot asks asterobot.net for the current version of every package you installed from the marketplace. Update check complete then says how many updates it found, and each package with a newer version gets a button in the Update column: Update to followed by the version.
Good to know about the check:
- Nothing is checked automatically. The buttons show the result of your last check until you check again or reload Asteroboard.
- A version counts as newer when its number is higher:
1.10.0is newer than1.9.0. When a version number doesn't follow that usual form, any different version counts as an update. - When the version on asterobot.net is lower than yours, for example because the author took a release back, no update is offered.
- A package whose file can't be read on asterobot.net any more, because it was deleted or hidden, is skipped without a message.
- Local packages are never checked, since they have no file on asterobot.net.
If the check fails, Couldn't check for updates appears.
The page of a marketplace package has the same check in its Updates row: Check for updates, then "Up to date" or a line such as "Version 1.3.0 is available", and a Check again button.
2. Install the new version
Click Update to followed by the version, on the package's row or at the top of its page.
Asterobot downloads the new version, with any dependency you don't have yet, and installs it next to the version you have. Update installed confirms it with a line such as "@some-author:auto-harvest 1.3.0 is installed alongside 1.2.0. Point a bot at it to use it."
The old version is untouched, and every bot keeps playing it. Its Update to button goes away.
If the new version is already in your library, for example because you already updated from another row, nothing is downloaded again.
If the installation fails, Couldn't install the update appears, without a reason. The causes are the same as for a first installation: see Install from the marketplace.
3. Move your bots
Each bot is set to an exact version, so you move them one at a time:
- On the bot's page, click the package name in the header and pick the new version. See Switch to another version.
- Or on the bot's Settings tab, under Bot configuration, pick the new version under Package and click Save settings.
A script that's already running keeps the old version until you click Stop, then Play.
To see which bots still use the old version, open that version's page from Library Manager. Bots playing this version lists every bot set to it, running or not.
What happens to package settings
Package settings are saved per bot under the package's name, not its version. A bot you move to the new version keeps the values you gave it.
If the new version removed a setting, renamed it or changed its type, the old value doesn't carry over to it, and the setting starts from the new version's default. Look at the bot's Package settings after moving it. If you move the bot back to the old version, its old values come back, unless you applied new values to the same settings in the meantime.
4. Remove the old version
Keep the old version as long as you might want to go back: moving a bot back is instant and needs no download. When no bot needs it any more:
- In Library Manager, open the menu at the end of the old version's row and choose Remove.
- Read the dialog. It warns you when bots are still set to that version, or when other packages depend on it. These warnings don't block anything.
- Click Yes, remove.
A bot still set to a removed version can't start its script until you move it to another version. Dependencies installed with the old version stay in your library: remove them the same way once nothing needs them. See Remove a package.
If you publish packages yourself, Publish an update covers the author's side.