Installing Development Release as an additional version

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Mon, 04/25/2022 - 20:28

I want to install the development release announced on 4/11/2022 but I want to be able to keep using version 2.21.3.How do I do that. Do I simply place the development release installer zip file in a different directory than the one (my user home directory) containing my current VStar and associated directories? For example could I simply create a subdirectory DevVstar in my user home directory and unzip the installation file in DevVstar?

 

Brad Walter, WBY

Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
Installer directory

Hi Brad

The installer allows you to select a different directory location in which to install a particular release of VStar.

Max may want to make additional comments here since he created the Windows installer over and above the simple Windows zip file we have released in the past.

David

 

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Installer directory

And from your response I gather that is enough so that the two versions can coexist without interfering with each other. In the past I have had problems where even though installed in different locations programs interfered with each other and either wouldn't run at all or wouldn't run properly. 

Brad

Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
Coexistence

Hi Brad

That should be the case, yes.

All installed VStar versions will share downloaded plugins and preference settings but that's about all.

If you find something that contradicts this though, please tell us of course.

David

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
There can be different…

There can be different versions of the VStar core installed (using different installation folders), however, as David mentioned, they will use shared plugins. This could be a problem because some plugins relied on updated vstar.jar. So you may experience problems with plug-ins.

In the future, a new feature could be added to VStar that would allow specifying plug-in folder (via command-line argument, for example). David, what do you think about it?