How to check for Delphi update?

[gwideman 0]

In most products there's a Check for Updates function on the Help menu, but not in the Delphi 12 IDE.

 

docwiki search finds this page "Check for Updates https://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Sydney/en/Check_for_Updates, last updated in 2015.  But I can find no such Check for Updates Start menu item, link or function inside the IDE, in D12, (nor in D10.4 that this page supposedly pertains to).

 

One could check the Release Notes at http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Athens/en/Release_Notes

... except that page has loads of info about installation, but no actual release notes. Sigh.

 

So how the heck do you check if your IDE is up to date?

Edited March 18 by gwideman
Updated info on Release Notes

[Remy Lebeau 1403]

In modern versions, IDE updates are released on GetIt. Simply check there if any updates are available for download.

Edited March 18 by Remy Lebeau

[gwideman 0]

20 minutes ago, Remy Lebeau said:

In modern versions, IDE updates are released on GetIt. Simply check there if any updates are available for download.

Thanks for your reply.   Your suggestion sound plausible, but how, exactly?

Tools > Getit Package Manager gets me the Getit Package Manager window. Then what?

 

 

[Dave Nottage 559]

1 hour ago, gwideman said:

Tools > Getit Package Manager gets me the Getit Package Manager window. Then what?

This is GetIt Package Manager configured to show what patches/hotfixes are available, and an arrow pointing to what to select to show whether updates are available:

 

[gwideman 0]

Hmm, OK I guess. 

 

For some reason, when I previously tried the Updates filter with Category All, it returned nothing.  I see your screen cap shows Patches and Hotfixes, and that does return a result, so thanks for that.

 

Problem is, GetIt muddles together 100's of offerings from multiple vendors, and the filters are ambiguous, so it's either hard to see the forest for the trees, or if you get rid of the trees (or is it the forest?) there's nothing left and hard to tell the meaning of "No result". 

 

I had also tried using the Search box set to "Embarcadero", but that only finds items that mention that name in the description, and doesn't find any items whose vendor is Embarcadero.   I tentatively concluded that perhaps updates to RAD Studio were listed under some other vendor name.

 

It wasn't clear what other term I could search for to bring up possible updates. Actually using "update" fetched two items that were irrelevant.

 

I was hoping to find a feature that provides a positive statement "your installation of the IDE is at the latest version".  The current "no search results" fails to distinguish between "your installation is up-to-date" and "you didn't guess the right filter and search terms".

 

Anyhow, thanks for your help.

[Lars Fosdal 1792]

If there is a new version or patch for the IDE, it also will show up on the Welcome page.

[aehimself 396]

If there is a new patch / version available it will always show up in this forum.

 

This is how I get informed 🙂

[gwideman 0]

On 3/17/2024 at 8:57 PM, Remy Lebeau said:

In modern versions, IDE updates are released on GetIt. Simply check there if any updates are available for download.

Well, I've been diligently looking in Getit under Updates, and after Patch 1, nothing more appeared.

 

I have only just today realized that Patch 1 is apparently not the same as 12.1, but rather 12.1 is called Release 1. And that never appeared in Getit, and so despite following the recommended procedure to determine if Delphi is up-to-date, apparently it is now 3 months behind.

 

This is just stupid.  I don't see why Delphi can't have a plain and simple "Check for update" function that covers any and all new versions of the software.

[Remy Lebeau 1403]

47 minutes ago, gwideman said:

Well, I've been diligently looking in Getit under Updates, and after Patch 1, nothing more appeared.

Because only 1 patch has been released so far. And that was for 12.0, not for 12.1.

Quote

I have only just today realized that Patch 1 is apparently not the same as 12.1

Correct.

Quote

but rather 12.1 is called Release 1. And that never appeared in Getit

Point releases usually require a full uninstall and reinstall. You can't do that with Getit from within the IDE (but the installer uses GetIt technology).  Patches can update an existing installation, so it makes sense that they can be distributed via GetIt.

 

You can login to your account at https://my.embarcadero.com to download the 12.1 installer.

Quote

This is just stupid.  I don't see why Delphi can't have a plain and simple "Check for update" function that covers any and all new versions of the software.

Feel free to file a feature request at https://qp.embarcadero.com

Edited July 24 by Remy Lebeau

[gwideman 0]

1 hour ago, Remy Lebeau said:

Because only 1 patch has been released so far. And that was for 12.0, not for 12.1.

... well actually, visiting my account, it turns out that there is another Patch 1, this for 12.1, released 2024-04-18.  Though presumably it makes more sense to install that via Getit, which I'm assuming will offer it once 12.1 is installed?  We will see.

 

Your point is valid of course... for a customer with 12.0 installed, there is one patch available, called Patch 1.  But that was not the last patch released, as we have this Patch 1 for 12.1.

 

Anyhow, now I'm stalled because it's not clear whether I can just install 12.1 over 12.0, or have to uninstall 12.0 first.  I am skeptical that in 2024 an uninstall is required, but at https://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/Athens/en/Installation  there's this obtuse note:

Quote

 

"Upgrading RAD Studio Athens
Attention: You do not need to follow these steps to install a different version of RAD Studio. Different versions of RAD Studio can coexist on the same system.

To replace RAD Studio Athens with a better edition or an update of RAD Studio Athens, you must remove RAD Studio Athens from your system and install your upgraded edition or update of RAD Studio Athens."

 

So, this appears to say you do have to uninstall.  What happens if you do not? Why can't the installer just take care of this?  And does that require uninstalling the 3rd party components as well?

 

(Not the topic I originally posted... but frustrating that a ".1" update is not just a one-click process.)

[Sherlock 663]

The installer will uninstall anyway. No way around that yet. 3rd party components might survive the uninstall, or not. Make sure to click the save settings box when prompted at the uninstall part of the procedure, that helps a lot.

[eivindbakkestuen 47]

On 7/24/2024 at 6:17 PM, gwideman said:

To replace RAD Studio Athens with a better edition or an update of RAD Studio Athens, you must remove RAD Studio Athens from your system and install your upgraded edition or update of RAD Studio Athens."

This is actually wrong or at least misleading; you should *not* uninstall manually before installing an update to a major version! Instead, you should let the new installer do the uninstall of the old version (it does this as part of the install), and don't change the default "not" setting in the dialog that asks you if you wish to remove registry settings.