# The good and the bad with the current Defold releases **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [November 28, 2022, 11:42am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143 "2022-11-28T11:42:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mathias\_Westerdahl](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/mathias_westerdahl/32/228_2.png) [@Mathias\_Westerdahl](https://forum.defold.com/u/Mathias_Westerdahl)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 10:29am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/21 "2022-11-29T10:29:34Z")
> [@connor.halford](#): > > Whenever I’ve said ‘engine’ above I am talking about the combination of the engine + editor. If I open Defold and it says an update is available, that’s what I’m talking about. I am as well. Defold as a whole is the product. What I was referring to was that internally, we have two ways or working with updates. Smaller (safer) changes are done continuously, on a (possibly) day to day basis (if there was a change). Larger changes are done on a montly basis. The larger changes are riskier, and needs more thorough testing (hence the Beta period), but ultimately, it should still feel safe to update to the latest version. ---
**Author:** ![Musenik](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/musenik/32/20573_2.png) [@Musenik](https://forum.defold.com/u/Musenik)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2022, 1:32am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/22 "2022-11-30T01:32:09Z")
Keeping the engine up to date just isn’t very important to me. I stick with what’s been working until it doesn’t - mostly because libraries are kept up to date with the engine. I have a second computer that I use when updating. I update the engine on that machine and build my current source. If it works, I update my primary dev machine. So far, I haven’t felt the need to update more often than once or twice a year. The much lower hassle and fewer interruptions are worth postponing updates. ---
**Author:** ![Pawel](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/pawel/32/24623_2.png) [@Pawel](https://forum.defold.com/u/Pawel)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/23 "2022-11-30T16:16:33Z")
> [@Mathias\_Westerdahl](#): > > Do you want more features or more bug fixes. It kind of feels like you don’t want any more features? No, definitely I didn’t mean less features! 😃 More features is definitely the way for Defold, same as with putting things into extensions, these are all good things, just needing more care to please most of the devs 😉 Thing like a ticket Bjorn created is like a part of this I believe 😉 Also things helping devs identify issues that might appear after upgrading, something like warnings in console log, that some function is deprecated, changed etc like e.g. in case of draw3d() function ---
**Author:** ![d954mas](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/d954mas/32/5401_2.png) [@d954mas](https://forum.defold.com/u/d954mas)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2022, 4:26pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/24 "2022-11-30T16:26:28Z")
Always use last, or few releases before last. Does not have any problems:) For me big problem can be 1.2.n → 1.3.0. Spine breaking change. I have some old prototypes and project with old spine, and when i want to build it will be very complex.(i do not need it now but in future everything possible) So if you can support that breaking changes defold version in build server more than 6 month. It can be usefull in some cases. In other cases, imho it is easy to update engine version to latest. ---
**Author:** ![sergey.lerg](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/sergey.lerg/32/3970_2.png) [@sergey.lerg](https://forum.defold.com/u/sergey.lerg)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/25 "2022-11-30T20:02:01Z")
The engine updates are not frequent and not tiresome. I think the original issue is about updating the editor which can update quite frequently and with no changelog. Perhaps displaying a popup like this: Engine version: 1.2.4 - up to date Editor version: 765432 - 765438 available would clarify the confusion and make the decision whether to update or not clearer. Not all people have fast internet or even fast computers, just unpacking stuff can take some time. ---
**Author:** ![SkaterDad](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/skaterdad/32/41137_2.png) [@SkaterDad](https://forum.defold.com/u/SkaterDad)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2022, 4:36am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/26 "2022-12-01T04:36:06Z")
I’ve had some issues here & there with updates. Typically upgrading on Windows was seamless, but once deployed to Android, on rare occassion, crashes would occur in either the engine or (more typically) native extensions. Luckily, the Defold team is exceptionally fast at reviewing our bug reports and fixing issues! In an ideal world, I’d have the time to upgrade to each beta version and do on-device testing before the version reaches final release. Until then, it’s not a big problem for me to delay releases by a few days while waiting for the engine or native extensions to be fixed. I’ll add my +1 to the request for having more details in the “update is available” dialog. A changelog or link to view a changelog would be really appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![AarrrBee](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/aarrrbee/32/24978_2.png) [@AarrrBee](https://forum.defold.com/u/AarrrBee)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 9:08am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/27 "2022-12-02T09:08:46Z")
How common are hotfixes such as this? > [@Defold 1.4.0 has been released](https://forum.defold.com/t/defold-1-4-0-has-been-released/72062/5): > > 1.4.0 updated with a hotfix (f4a699eb412a2445e894568f2d7466aba61b4c41) We found that this version (1.3.7 affected as well) may produce corrupted Lua bytecode for 32-bit systems when bundled for 2 architectures simultaneously (it’s possible to do this only on the Android platform). As result, Android phones that support only 32bit can’t start such bundles and it may look like a black screen or some other errors which hard to track. We recommend you update Defold to the latest version with a fi… Are hotfixes always announced, and what kind of bug would trigger a hotfix? ---
**Author:** ![britzl](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/britzl/32/23_2.png) [@britzl](https://forum.defold.com/u/britzl)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 9:49am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/28 "2022-12-02T09:49:13Z")
A post was merged into an existing topic: [Supporting non english languages and RTL languages](https://forum.defold.com/t/supporting-non-english-languages-and-rtl-languages/16991/15) ---
**Author:** ![britzl](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/britzl/32/23_2.png) [@britzl](https://forum.defold.com/u/britzl)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 9:48am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/29 "2022-12-02T09:48:32Z")
> [@AarrrBee](#): > > Are hotfixes always announced, and what kind of bug would trigger a hotfix? Yes, we always post about these on the forum. It happens rarely (probably at most once per year). In this case it was an infrequent crash on 32 bit Android devices due to an off-by-one error in long Lua bytecode diffs. The workaround was to publish one 32bit and 64bit APK, but that is not always possible to do on Google Play, and with enough installs the issue had a significant enough impact that it warranted an immediate fix. ---
**Author:** ![AarrrBee](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/aarrrbee/32/24978_2.png) [@AarrrBee](https://forum.defold.com/u/AarrrBee)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 11:05am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/30 "2022-12-02T11:05:41Z")
Didn’t 1.3.5 and 1.3.6 have hotfixes too? Or are these a different category? I would prefer if there were new forum topics about these, as many users won’t follow threads for released versions. > [@Defold 1.3.5 has been released](https://forum.defold.com/t/defold-1-3-5-has-been-released/71451/43): > > We have decided to revert “([#6752](https://github.com/defold/defold/issues/6752)) Generate Lua bytecode for HTML5 bundles” due to the impact it has on the bundle size. A new stable 1.3.5 release should reach you soon. The new version also contains a fix for the debugger issue some users have reported. > [@Defold 1.3.6 has been released](https://forum.defold.com/t/defold-1-3-6-has-been-released/71692/21): > > Aaand it has been released! New engine sha1 is 65e2f79be3b8c99f1999a976399a17eb31a79ff2. Editor updates should work and GitHub and [d.defold.com](http://d.defold.com) has been updated. ---
**Author:** ![britzl](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/britzl/32/23_2.png) [@britzl](https://forum.defold.com/u/britzl)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2022, 12:51pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/31 "2022-12-02T12:51:36Z")
@AarrrBee you are absolutely right. My mistake. > [@AarrrBee](#): > > I would prefer if there were new forum topics about these We will make sure to do this going forward! ---
**Author:** ![gianmichele](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/gianmichele/32/24028_2.png) [@gianmichele](https://forum.defold.com/u/gianmichele)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2022, 10:43am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/32 "2022-12-10T10:43:35Z")
I would love to suggest, on more beefy new features, like for example the new texture manipulation api in the works, to add some nice examples with different use cases when released (and here the community can help) ---
**Author:** ![mikatuo](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/mikatuo/32/20213_2.png) [@mikatuo](https://forum.defold.com/u/mikatuo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/33 "2022-12-11T18:22:58Z")
Is it possible to “freeze” old Dockerfiles? If someone were to request a build from a 1-year-old-Defold they could get a build with older SDKs. Would it still ran correctly? They would not get latest and greatest SDKs if they were on old version, it would be their choice. ---
**Author:** ![Mathias\_Westerdahl](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/mathias_westerdahl/32/228_2.png) [@Mathias\_Westerdahl](https://forum.defold.com/u/Mathias_Westerdahl)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2022, 8:12am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/34 "2022-12-12T08:12:02Z")
We’ve chosen the 6 month cutoff point for extender support since that has felt pretty natural for development. We don’t want to support too many versions on our end since the support burden increases _a lot_ for each SDK. Also note that that the server is open source, and you can setup your own server to support the SDK’s you want. ---
**Author:** ![schlista](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/schlista/32/44619_2.png) [@schlista](https://forum.defold.com/u/schlista)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 1:21am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143/35 "2023-10-27T01:21:14Z")
Oh I love defold for this. Unity was a PITA in dealing with which version do you want to use. Defold is 100% on the right track IMO. [Previous page](https://forum.defold.com/t/the-good-and-the-bad-with-the-current-defold-releases/72143.md?page=1)