FAQ: Frequent New Versions of Sawmill

Why are new versions of Sawmill released so often? Is it buggy? Do I need to download every new version?

Short Answer

We ship new versions to provide our customers with the latest minor features and bug fixes quickly. Sawmill is no buggier than any other software, and you don't need to download a new release unless you're having problems with the current one.

Long Answer

We've had a few people ask us why we ship new versions of Sawmill so often. The reason is that we want to provide our customers with access to the latest minor features (e.g. new log formats) and bug fixes. Our shipping process is highly automated, so it is relatively easy for us to ship a new version, so we do it frequently.

There are bugs in Sawmill, just like there are bugs in all computer programs. Of course, we strive to keep the bugs to a minimum, but Sawmill is very complex software, and we get reports of a few new bugs every week. We roll these into new releases every couple weeks, and ship them so that new downloaders won't be troubled by these bugs, and people who are experiencing them will be able to get a fixed version. Other computer programs have similar numbers of bugs, but they package more bug fixes in each release, and release versions less frequently.

Unless you're having problems with the version of Sawmill you're currently running, if you need a new feature we've added (like support for a new log format), there is no need to upgrade. You can upgrade at whatever pace you like, and skip any upgrades in the middle; each new release of Sawmill is a full release, so you don't have to have any previous version installed to use it.