Luanti 5.16.1

[Blockhead]

What's taking so long for Luanti to drop it's update on NeoStore!?

What's taking so long for NeoStore to drop a Luanti update!?

Fixed that for you

[TumeniNodes]

What's taking so long for Luanti to drop it's update on NeoStore!?

What's taking so long for NeoStore to drop a Luanti update!?

Fixed that for you

Any update regarding the Stable PPA ?

[Blockhead]

Any update regarding the Stable PPA ?

Hmm, I compile from source so I hadn't noticed it didn't have 5.16. I'll try to summon the person it mentions as releasing them on Launchpad

[ArceusI]

What's taking so long for Luanti to drop it's update on NeoStore!?

What's taking so long for NeoStore to drop a Luanti update!?

Fixed that for you

I spotted the updated app on ZapStore, unfortunately because F-Droid signs it's applications differently, I can't update it through there anyway.

[TumeniNodes]

Any update regarding the Stable PPA ?

Hmm, I compile from source so I hadn't noticed it didn't have 5.16. I'll try to summon the person it mentions as releasing them on Launchpad

I used to as well, sadly some tough life events have limited a lot of things for me, so now I just use the stable PPA.
Thank you for putting out the word.. It appears as if Lars had been doing the launchpad uploads for a while

[rubenwardy]

blog post added

[TumeniNodes]

Thank you Lars for updating the Stable PPA

[ArceusI]

Well, looks like I'm stuck with 5.15.2, as the update never dropped for F-Droid (NeoStore)...

[ArceusI]

Now it finally came! Damn! 3 weeks for one update!

[ShallowDweller]

sorry to only ask this now that update 5.17 is just around the corner, but:

Mod Directories Are Now Read-only

Writing to mod directories was deprecated in Luanti 5.9.0. This is now enforced by a runtime error. Mods should use core.get_mod_data_path() to store global data or core.get_worldpath() to store world-specific data.

This was done primarily to improve security, but also prevents data loss when updating packages using ContentDB and allows users to install mods and games in system-wide read-only directories.

what exactly does that mean?
we can still edit the mods by hand on our end but now the engine is limited in how it can modify mods or did i get it wrong?

I'm guessing this doesn't impact the end user wanting to tweak their mods because it wasn't listed in the 1st post's highlights, but the blog post bit i quoted above got me wondering.

also i noticed a flatpak update today. does that update do anything or...?
(i came here for the change log and noticed the blog post and questions poped up in my mind)

[Blockhead]

Mod Directories Are Now Read-only

we can still edit the mods by hand on our end but now the engine is limited in how it can modify mods or did i get it wrong?

Right, you can still edit them just fine on platforms that support it (Android tends not to like that :( ). Watch out for pitfalls like not using version control or editing packages off ContentDB then getting your changes nuked with a package update download.

I'm guessing this doesn't impact the end user wanting to tweak their mods because it wasn't listed in the 1st post's highlights, but the blog post bit i quoted above got me wondering.

Right, this is about self-modifying code in mods which is an anti-pattern and often used by viruses. It's also about not properly using modstorage for stuff like saving algorithmically-generated schematics, per-world settings, and so on. See PR #14486 that introduced the deprecation.

[ShallowDweller]

Mod Directories Are Now Read-only

we can still edit the mods by hand on our end but now the engine is limited in how it can modify mods or did i get it wrong?

Right, you can still edit them just fine on platforms that support it (Android tends not to like that :( ). Watch out for pitfalls like not using version control or editing packages off ContentDB then getting your changes nuked with a package update download.

I'm guessing this doesn't impact the end user wanting to tweak their mods because it wasn't listed in the 1st post's highlights, but the blog post bit i quoted above got me wondering.

Right, this is about self-modifying code in mods which is an anti-pattern and often used by viruses. It's also about not properly using modstorage for stuff like saving algorithmically-generated schematics, per-world settings, and so on. See PR #14486 that introduced the deprecation.

I see. thanks for clarifying (and for the PR link)! good job with the change!

there probably are guides out there teaching people how to modify those things somewhere for those who need it (my quick test suggests i'll be fine) or some workarounds.

[ArceusI]

Mod Directories Are Now Read-only

we can still edit the mods by hand on our end but now the engine is limited in how it can modify mods or did i get it wrong?

Right, you can still edit them just fine on platforms that support it (Android tends not to like that :( ). Watch out for pitfalls like not using version control or editing packages off ContentDB then getting your changes nuked with a package update download.

I'm guessing this doesn't impact the end user wanting to tweak their mods because it wasn't listed in the 1st post's highlights, but the blog post bit i quoted above got me wondering.

Right, this is about self-modifying code in mods which is an anti-pattern and often used by viruses. It's also about not properly using modstorage for stuff like saving algorithmically-generated schematics, per-world settings, and so on. See PR #14486 that introduced the deprecation.

But what about legacy versions for certain mods or games? We need access to those on Android devices!

[Blockhead]

But what about legacy versions for certain mods or games? We need access to those on Android devices!

Yes, and ideally in future you will be able to. In 5.17 you can take copies of files out, and hopefully later in 5.17-dev or 5.18 we will get more access for Android users. Letting the Lua of a mod modify that mod is not much of a solution for switching versions - someone could write such a thing for older versions of Luanti/Minetest, but it would only work for that 1 mod. Really the only option to keep old versions at present is to not update the mod, and potentially have separate Luanti apps installed if you can manage that (sorry to be light on details, I know multiple versions have been possible for e.g. testing a -dev version, or I think Nodecore was available as a separate app).

[ArceusI]

But what about legacy versions for certain mods or games? We need access to those on Android devices!

Yes, and ideally in future you will be able to. In 5.17 you can take copies of files out, and hopefully later in 5.17-dev or 5.18 we will get more access for Android users. Letting the Lua of a mod modify that mod is not much of a solution for switching versions - someone could write such a thing for older versions of Luanti/Minetest, but it would only work for that 1 mod. Really the only option to keep old versions at present is to not update the mod, and potentially have separate Luanti apps installed if you can manage that (sorry to be light on details, I know multiple versions have been possible for e.g. testing a -dev version, or I think Nodecore was available as a separate app).

Well seriously I can't use the Free Stuff Generator because it was updated without even changing the description of the mod, and it broke a ton of ways to maintain resources, leaving the Replicatior all alone. Plus, MineClonia has only gotten worse because Minecraft is worsening, that's why older versions might be more ideal.