On Leopard compatibility
Hazel 2.1 has just been released. One of the main focuses of this release was Leopard compatibility but what does this really mean?
In this case, it means that, for the most part, Hazel will work on Leopard as it did on Tiger. As other devs have pointed out 1, 2, 3, we do not get the final version of Leopard any sooner than you do. Actually, unless we go into a store and pay for a copy on launch day, we will probably get it later.
The implications of this are that there could be changes that have occurred since the last prerelease and the final version that could break things and we won’t know until launch day. It’s a gamble but I’d rather have something usable in your hands the minute you upgrade to Leopard. This version addresses the known Leopard issues to date and should be ready to help organize your Stacks come August 26th.
As for the longer term roadmap with Hazel on Leopard: Hazel is not providing any special Leopard-only functionality currently. When will Hazel start using exclusive Leopard features or go fully Leopard-only? It’s hard to say. Leopard does provide some functionality that Hazel can take advantage of. But until I feel comfortable that a good number of my users have upgraded, I’ll try and support both Tiger and Leopard.
As a user, you do have the ability to influence this. When checking for updates, you have the option of sending anonymous data about your system. One of the things sent is your OS version (you can see all the data sent if you click on the “More Info…” button). Using this data, I can get a sense of Leopard adoption. If you want to be properly represented, then check the “Include anonymous profile” box in the update settings. I keep the data to myself and won’t do any bad things with it. Your participation will help guide Hazel’s future development so, if you’re not doing it already, please consider casting your vote in this manner.
So, in the end, I just want to clarify that there’s a bit of a juggling game here. I’ve tried to make sure that everything works as smoothly on Leopard as it does on Tiger. If it turns out that something changed in the final release or if I just flat out missed something, I’ll fix it. Leopard compatibility is not so much a state as it is a commitment.
Category: Hazel, Noodlesoft, OS X, Software 2 comments »
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:49 am
What I’d like to see added for Leopard is supporting fs_events to allow Hazel to operate immediately on added files. That’s my biggest complaint right now that it only operates occasionally. 🙂
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:38 pm
It should operate immediately on files added to the monitored folder. Currently, though, it won’t immediately see changes in subfolders or changes to a file’s attributes. But if you don’t see it operating immediately on files added to the top level, then email me as something is possibly wrong.
fs_events is definitely something I’d like to use. If I can do it in such a way that I can maintain it in parallel with the current kqueue mechanism (to maintain compatibility with Tiger users) without much hassle, then I’ll probably end up doing that. I can’t say much more about it at the moment seeing as it isn’t Friday yet but trust me, it’s on the radar.
Again, the emphasis on Leopard features is dependent on the profile data I get so I highly recommend that you turn on support for that. I do understand that that data set may be skewed for whatever reasons but it’s the only indication I have concerning Leopard adoption amongst my userbase.
Thanks for the comment and let me know if there are other Leopard features you’d like implemented.