Release 5.8

[ownedbycats]

New features
Happy holidays to all calibre users!

Happy holidays to you too, Kovid!

[kovidgoyal]

Thanks

[Inquisitive_Ram]

I have never upgraded a Calibre version before (only installed it the first time a week ago). Does it affect commonly used plugins?

[ownedbycats]

Occasionally things break. Most authors are pretty quick to fix it.

If a critical plugin breaks, you can uninstall Calibre and reinstall the old version. Your library and settings will be untouched.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Inquisitive_Ram

I have never upgraded a Calibre version before (only installed it the first time a week ago). Does it affect commonly used plugins?

Kovid usually warns PI developer/maintainers in advance when changes might break things.
eg 4.x -> 5.x

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

Kovid usually warns PI developer/maintainers in advance when changes might break things.
eg 4.x -> 5.x

There was one version 5.x that broke some plugins. The affected plugins got fixed pretty quickly.

[JSWolf]

If you've installed 5.8, there is a version 5.8.1. I cannot say what's been fixed.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you've installed 5.8, there is a version 5.8.1. I cannot say what's been fixed.

From the What's New page:

Version 5.8.1 fixes a couple of regressions that broke the Save to disk function and changing Page layout settings in the viewer.

Closes tickets: 1909217, 1909197

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There was one version 5.x that broke some plugins. The affected plugins got fixed pretty quickly.

5.1 resulted in several plugins spontaneously self-destructing and disappearing entirely due to some changes that I don't entirely remember. This is one of the few times I've had to revert myself.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

5.1 resulted in several plugins spontaneously self-destructing and disappearing entirely due to some changes that I don't entirely remember. This is one of the few times I've had to revert myself.

There was no need to revert. Running a calibre-debug allowed the plugins to show up.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Inquisitive_Ram

I have never upgraded a Calibre version before (only installed it the first time a week ago). Does it affect commonly used plugins?

Not in my experience.

Alf's deDRM tools is the only commonly used plugin that I can recall having problems keeping up to date with new calibre versions.

Kovid gives ample (months if not years) notice of upcoming changes that will effect 3rd party plugins. IIRC they invariably coincide with a major change - i.e. Version 4.23 to Version 5.0, and major changes are always beta tested, e.g. calibre 5: Beta testers needed.

As a new user you may not be aware that a calibre install includes over 250 standard (built-in) plugins. So, it's in his own self-interest that Kovid would go out of his way to minimise the impact changes to the calibre kernel will have on plugins

The only software that would have a better track record in this regard than Calibre would be software that never changes; which of itself is no bad thing.

BR

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Not in my experience.

Alf's deDRM tools is the only commonly used plugin that I can recall having problems keeping up to date with new calibre versions.

Kovid gives ample (months if not years) notice of upcoming changes
…
The only software that would have a better track record in this regard than Calibre would be software that never changes; which of itself is no bad thing.

And wasn't the deDRM issue only once?

Also you are never forced to upgrade. I may upgrade from 4.23 on my regular laptop soon (Mint 18.3). I have 5.7 on my test machine (Mint 20.0).
I never share copies of copyright titles*, but I read Amazon Kindle Titles I buy on my Kobo Libra.

[*Sometimes I might offer a free copy of our own copyright material, which is DRM free, but it's a licence violation to re-share it]

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Alf's deDRM tools is the only commonly used plugin that I can recall having problems keeping up to date with new calibre versions.

I have my own opinion about the problems with this upgrade and python upgrade in general. And I think that DeDRM have different issues related not to calibre itself but changes from python 2 to python 3. BTW, my opinion is not possible to tell it in polite company (no backward compatibility....)