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Compatability level (xp, vista, 7, 8, 10) selector/info in upgrade/options

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June 26, 2016 - 6:21am
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w0ndelig
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Compatability level (xp, vista, 7, 8, 10) selector/info in upgrade/options

For my work I need to keep compatible all the way down to XP

now (sigil) and some other app (since forgotten for something else that worked better and was portable and compatible )
the upgrader has without warning just blasted in a version incompatible with the system it's being run on even ...xp sp3

would it really be impossible or even hard to put in a 'maintain compatability' with xp,vista,7,8,10 like a selector switch in advanced options
or at least have a warning in the upgrader as 'compatible with xp/vista/7/8/10' (or as the case may be) 'compatible with vista/7/8/10'

so yes this is a request for a feature i guess
thanks
w

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June 26, 2016 - 1:40pm
John T. Haller
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Lot of Work

Unfortunately, the vast majority of app developers are not announcing when they drop Windows XP support. We generally find out after the fact and then adjust the launcher's MinOS to warn users when they try to run it. Most developers no longer test with XP (since they don't even have a Windows XP machine or VM to test in) so they themselves don't even know when it breaks, but it often does when they switch compilers or compiler optimizations of a new release. So, the only way to accomplish what you'd like to see would be for me to run every release of every app still compatible with Windows XP within a Windows XP virtual machine to ensure it runs. And I'd likely have to test a few of the features for several of the apps that use multiple EXEs (think audio and video encoders, optical drive burners/rippers, file compression, etc) because some apps will have a specific component break if it's compiled differently or from a third party.

Fun fact: most developers don't even bother testing under Windows Vista at this point due to its age and lack of use, but most apps that work on Windows 7 will work on Windows Vista due to the similarity of the kernels and sub-systems.

The end result is that supporting Windows XP is more trouble than it is worth for most developers. While I make the effort to ensure all our original software (platform menu, backup/restore utility, app store/updater, installer, launcher/portablizer, app compressor, menu for puzzle games, etc) works on Windows XP, I don't have the time or energy to take on the task to verify every release of every app as working on Windows XP.

Side Note: Your office should absolutely get rid of that XP machine ASAP. Having it hooked up to the internet is hugely irresponsible from a security perspective.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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June 28, 2016 - 10:54am
ac-portableApps
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Related feature request - support downgrade to specific app ver

Baring an implementation of the feature requested above. Could you make it easy to downgrade to a specific version of a giving app from within the PA console. As a sub, related feature, could you include the app system requirements for each app with in the app lists: install, upgrade. Perhaps as a tool tip or accordion.

Also, could you pump up the implementation of "Ability to exclude apps from the updater (possibly show unchecked after checked updated apps)". I believe that it has been on the list since ~2012.
https://portableapps.com/node/33735

That said, thanks for a wonderful program.

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June 28, 2016 - 10:56am
(Reply to #3)
John T. Haller
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Manual Download, Rename

We generally don't know when an app stops working on XP, so including it in the app list would be similarly useless in this scenario. We usually find out a couple releases after it happens when the dev doesn't announce it (since so few users use XP). The updater database and the updater itself currently have no knowledge of which apps are compatible with what or even what OS you're using, so it would be a non-insignificant thing to add (going through 300+ apps and marking whether they work on XP and Vista as we have several that require Vista and up and several that are Win7 and up). We don't usually know what the last version that worked on XP or Vista, so we'd need to determine that manually by trying it in a VM and then adding that to the database as well. There's also the issue of do we make the updater only warn them if they're currently on XP, only if they've ever used XP, make it another use settable setting to warn about it, etc.

You can manually downgrade by grabbing it from SourceForge here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/

You can rename the directory to something like SigilPortableForXP and the updater won't touch it.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

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