→ AppFresh Development Preview 5 Bugfix Release (Mac OS X 10.4 only)
After an all busy month there finally is a new release of AppFresh. We’ve been trying hard to get as much done as possible, but real life is hitting hard these days (and well… it’s summer). You probably read about other blockers; Jonas visited WWDC07 and I needed to do some travelling as well, including a great stay at this years Reboot 9.0 at Kobenhaven.
We titled this release a bugfix release, because not many new features made it into. There have been some major issues with Preview 5 that have been fixed before we’re heading towards an outstanding Preview 6 (it sure will be taking iusethis.com integration to the next level). The most important fixes are a fallback scanner for systems where Spotlight is disabled and Widget detection for iusethis.com entries. With the new version AppFresh tries to find out if a local widget is tagged as widget at iusethis.com, so it does not mess up applications and widgets that have the same name (for example Photo Drop, thank you Bjørn Bojesen). In case AppFresh finds an iusethis.com entry for a local widget that is not correctly tagged it will set the state to "Not tagged as widget at iusethis.com". The entry owners at iusethis.com should therefore always add a "widget" or "dashboard" tag. Users probably should start reporting as well.
Complete list of changes:
- Added Spotlight fallback in case it’s disabled.
- Added ~/Applications to default scan locations.
- Added new sort by filter "State" in the main window.
- Added an alert panel for using "Make iUseThis profile"
- Added widget categorization and detection.
- Added actions to Help menu for opening the website, the blog and sending a mail.
- Added word splitting to improve iusethis.com auto search.
- Added category "Not Using"
- Added possibility to disable iusethis.com auto search per application.
- Added support for SIMBL plugins by default.
- Added iusethis.com credentials loading from Internet Keychain item in the wizard.
- Fixed iusethis.com login using E-Mail addresses.
- Fixed resetting of iusethis.com identifiers manually set for an application.
- Fixed apple updates clearing after an installation (clear the cache before this takes effect).
- Fixed rescanning of applications that are deleted while AppFresh is running.
- Fixed update checking of applications with special characters.
- Fixed adding iusethis.com version mess up for apple updates.
- Fixed categorization of applications in case only one apple application was found.
- Fixed menu entries appearing as “Untitled”.
- Fixed overall iusethis.com credentials handling, including deletion, loading and saving to keychain.
- Fixed progress so it’s a sheet again until we have a better solution.
- Fixed alignement of main table cells for sizes greater than 1300px.
- Fixed downloading/installing if unpacking is disabled in preferences.
- Fixed handling of applications within applications so they will be ignored.
- Fixed folder moving if target exists when downloading/installing.
- Fixed handling of broken download URLs.
- Fixed crashes related to missing system tools.
- Fixed overwritten minimize keyboard shortcut.
- Fixed the download locator so it’s always in front.
- Fixed loading credentials from keychain returning no password in some cases.
- Fixed some typos.
- Fixed reported crashs.
- Updated toolbar icons.
- Started to work on Leopard compatibilty (should be working mostly).
Still open is the integration of Kernel Extensions such as MacFUSE and others. If you miss anything else, please leave a comment.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
*applause*
July 15th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Nice list of changes, can’t await to test it. It seems application discovery is working much better, with only 18/152 unknown.
One thing though, iusethis / not using categories do not make much sense without an iusethis account set up, does it? Maybe you should hide them in that case.
July 15th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Download Locator window does not show the application name in the bold text.
It seems AF unhides itself while downloading application when hidden (strange white rectangle “window” with sheet shows up).
Download Locator fails with some downloads (see yourself with KisMAC and Changes Meter — entering those URLs into sfari starts a download immediately).
July 15th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
When checking single applications for updates with Cmd-G, they are always (regardless of result) removed from the Updates list. Only changing to another list and going back helps.
“Maintenance” is version 3.6. I have “maintenancetitanium” (1.x) installed and changed the iusethis name after scanning once on first launch. AF still seems to think version 3.6 is available. Setting the iusethis name should reset the available version, even if lower.
Apple Updater and iUseThis both think iTunes is 7.3.1, but AF says it’s Up To Date. I still have 7.3 installed.
July 15th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Several Preference Panes (Growl, iStat menus, Application Enhancer, Witch) remained “Not checked for updates” after checking everything on first launch. Checking manually was successful immediately. Is there a reason for this behaviour?
Btw, the capitalization of words in status messages is not consistent: “Up To Date” vs “Not checked for updates” for example.
July 15th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Marked applications appear on the “Updates” list and are counted for the total, seems odd.
July 16th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
@Daniel: I have a similar-but-opposite weirdness with iTunes. I have iTunes 7.3.1 installed, but AppFresh is reporting that “iTunes 7.3 is available” and wants me to update. Hitting “Download Update” takes me to the Apple Software Update app with iTunes shown, but the installation fails.
Oddly enough, I have “Scan for available Apple updates” disabled, and Apple Software Update reports No New Updates. I’m confident that I have the newest iTunes, I just don’t know how to convince AppFresh of it. (“Mark installed version as up to date” is disabled in the contextual menu.)
July 16th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
OK. AppFresh should actually always report the same update results as Apple Software Update. Checking updates for Apple and all other applications are two different processes so the mark as up to date does not work right now. If AppFresh produces different results than Software Update please contact us at appfresh at metaquark.de so we can work something out.
Btw, what is your OS version?
July 16th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
I’ll have a look at it. Looks like those issues need to be fixed!
July 16th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Works for me…was it possible to reporduce this? Can you please provide the URLs you tested with. If it’s reproducable can you please send me the console log.
July 19th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Not so much of a big deal, but the latest version of AppFresh seems to be ‘guessing’ the most appropriate name for an application.
Well, I’ve had MediaFork in my Application folder for a while now (I’m aware it’s out of date) and AppFresh lets me know that there’s a new version out. Great. So I look at it, but it’s not MediaFork, it’s Media*Central*.
Now, I’ve never used, installed or heard of this app (no offence to the developer/s of the App) but this is kinda annoying. I even attempt to change the iUseThis name to ‘MediaFork’ and it just changes itself back.
July 19th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Right now you need to set the iusethis identifier to “-” to disable the auto search for MediaFork. The next release will add further improvements to searching.
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:50 pm
The same happens with the new Quinn version, URL is
http://www.simonhaertel.de/download/quinn-current
I have Safari 3.0.2 with accompanying webkit installed though.
Download locator is stuck at a reseted empty progress bar after filling 1/6 of it.
I also think that an always-at-front download window is not the best design choice in the world, but that might be just my perception as there is no way to make it go away without canceling
July 24th, 2007 at 7:26 am
OK. Seems like there is an issue with the latest WebKit. Right now its not supported, but we might have a look at it for another Bugfix Release that also solves most of your other reported issues.
July 28th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
I just discovered this app. I just wish iusethis was more timely in updating their apps. I guess many developers aren’t aware of the site yet?
August 3rd, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Hurray! Thank you for finally fixing the crash-on-start
August 5th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
When I run AppFresh the only app that is listed is Adium. I can’t get it to list anything else…
Why?
November 8th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
any word on getting appfresh to work w/ leopard? it crashes on me when i try to launch it.
thanks.
November 8th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Try to remove everything from ~/Library/Application Support/AppFresh
November 8th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
the only thing in there is a folder called “snapshots”
November 9th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Go to your home directory (not your Macintosh HD), then Library -> Application Support -> AppFresh.
November 9th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
that worked. thank you.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Very Nice Site! Thanks!