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I think (a good) changelog is especially important when it comes to closed-source software where you don’t have the opportunity to downgrade easily (from Window

I think (a good) changelog is especially important when it comes to closed-source software where you don’t have the opportunity to downgrade easily (from Windows software to mobile applications). For example if you visit the App Store now, you’ll see the many app developers, especially the big ones such as Twitter, Facebook etc., are using the same changelog entry for every, single, update: “Thanks for using X! To make our app better for you, we bring updates to the App Store regularly.” The problem is, this doesn’t tell me anything about what to expect. No, I see that I shouldn’t have anything to worry about because the new features are throughly UX-tested, and as an app end user there is not much to consider anyway (it’s not a framework I’m using in production, right?). The problem is, the changelog matters when Facebook removes messaging functionality to push its users to their new app for some for-profit reason. Changelog matters when your favourite app which has been free for the past couple years have decided that it’s monetisable now and there are intermittent ads in your feed. It matters when they think you don’t need a functionality anymore and proceed to remove it, but you actually do. I think changelog should be enforced far, far more strictly for closed-source software, and especially for those on App Store and Play Store.

olivierlacan 8y ago
Couldn't agree more. It's been heartbreaking to see the spread of those rote changelog entries on iOS specifically. Although, meanwhile, large companies like Apple and Google have started including surprisingly high-level and compelling release notes or changelogs to end-users in things like Chrome and Keynote. Smaller shops like Transit, Halide, Darkroom, and many others are going the opposite direction of Twitter and Facebook by offering very detailed and compelling (although sometimes a little too over the top) changelogs for their major releases. One thing I wish people did more, and I feel like I should carve out a section about this on Keep a Changelog: explain exactly what bugs were fixed. I know discrete updaters are becoming more rare with auto-updates, but seeing a specific bug that affected you specifically squashed in a release is perhaps one of the greatest values of changelogs, especially in the case of open source software but also with closed source apps.
- yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
  > on iOS specifically I wish. It's rampant on Android, too; of my recently updated apps right now, about half of them have release notes on the order of "bug fixes and performance enhancements". Even Google does it on their big-name apps!
  - zingplex 8y ago
    I found that the changelogs on Android have never been that high quality to begin with. This is probably because from a very early stage (version 3.3.11), the Android Market automatically updated apps.
- unilynx 8y ago
  If you care that much about a specific bug, why not file or follow the relevant issue ? It shows maintainers which are the real issues affecting people, allows two-way communication about the bug, and keeps the changelog clean. Nodejs is an example of a project that seems to mention every single fixed bug in their changelog, making them so long that I'll probably miss the things that really matter while skimming over them - especially when jumping ahead a few versions.
  - majewsky 8y ago
    > It shows maintainers which are the real issues affecting people I disagree. Sure, it's a signal, but it's quite distorted. Suppose you have an issue that affects a lot of people, but has a simple workaround. You may not see this issue since no one bothers to file a bug. If in doubt, I'd prefer to fix a papercut that affects 50% of my users vs. a catastrophic show-stopper bug that affects 0.01% of them.
starefossen 8y ago
One of the reasons these big ones don’t use a proper changelog is because new, and deprecated, features are controlled by dynamic feature toggles as opposed to what version of the app you are running. Of course, new version adds support for new toggles (features) but that is not a guarantee that they will be enabled for your user - or at all.
- gitgud 8y ago
  Even if they're not enabled by a user, surely it's important to state when they are added/removed from the application. I would like to check before I upgrade, if an app removes a feature, regardless of whether I'm using the feature or not.
  - melevittfl 8y ago
    It’s not the user who is enabling them. It’s the app developers. They can remotely toggle features on and off.
    - gitgud 8y ago
      So some app configurations are changed by the developers at runtime. That doesn't mean they have to hide the existence of those features, or the reason for the update.
gitgud 8y ago
It's so annoying to see: "Every update of our Facebook app includes improvements for speed and reliability." It gives the impression that they've lost track of what they're updating or they want to hide what they're changing in the updates... also just very lazy
- fapjacks 8y ago
  You don't get annoyed seeing those retarded "changelog" messages if you don't install Facebook's app in the first place.
  - Walkman 8y ago
    Yea sure, these are the two choices ONLY...
  - masonic 8y ago
    Some phones have it as part of involuntary bloatware. The most you can do (short if rooting) is Force-stop it.
    - fapjacks 8y ago
      Is that real? Which phones are doing this to their consumers? That is fucking awful.
scarface74 8y ago
The problem is, the changelog matters when Facebook removes messaging functionality to push its users to their new app for some for-profit reason. App makers thought that monolithic multipurpose apps didn’t work well. Google did the same thing. https://www.computerworld.com/article/2488851/mobile-wireless/google-breaks-out-separate-mobile-docs--sheets--drive-apps.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/2488851/mobile-wireles...
- boramalper 8y ago
  Correct but in Facebook’s case they were also trying to push Messenger as a messaging platform that you could use without Facebook too, hence a separate app made more sense on a technical level, but also it was a huge marketing move. I personally find it annoying that Messenger is integrated into Facebook enough that I’m notified when there are pending messages, but not enough that I can’t check my messages on FB app...
  - t-moe 8y ago
    Don't let facebook force you to install their messenger app. On https://mbasic.facebook.com https://mbasic.facebook.com you can still read the messages in the mobile browser.
mhw 8y ago
There’s reason to hope this might get better on the App Store: part of the app review guidelines updates this year addressed this specific issue. From http://www.appstorereviewguidelineshistory.com/articles/2018-06-04-wwdc2018/ http://www.appstorereviewguidelineshistory.com/articles/2018...: > Apps now must clearly describe new features and changes in the “What’s New” section of the App Store. Several of the large social network companies have been using a practice where they reuse a generic update text for every release and then enable new features remotely on a per-user basis. This appears to no longer be permitted.
- y4mi 8y ago
  > and then enable new features remotely on a per-user basis that should still be permitted, no? they'll just have to write "we added feature x, which we'll slowly roll out to all eligible users."
  - badprose 8y ago
    > they'll just have to write "we added feature x, which we'll slowly roll out to all eligible users." This would be vastly preferably to the current: "Bug fixes and performance improvements"...
Reedx 8y ago
> Changelog matters when your favourite app which has been free for the past couple years have decided that it’s monetisable now and there are intermittent ads in your feed. That's a pretty uncharitable interpretation. After all, you used your favorite app for free for a couple years. Maybe they ran out of money. Maybe they tried to monetize in another way, but it didn't work and ads were the fallback to keep the service afloat (though also possible ads were the plan all along once scale was achieved). In any case, your favorite app isn't free to develop or host and you're not under any obligation to use it.
richardw 8y ago
I generally ignore those updates. If you can't take the time to sell me on it, the current version is fine. Flash degrades on writes. There's not that much space on a phone so why spend writes on weekly updates with no visible benefit.

olivierlacan 8y ago

Couldn't agree more. It's been heartbreaking to see the spread of those rote changelog entries on iOS specifically. Although, meanwhile, large companies like Apple and Google have started including surprisingly high-level and compelling release notes or changelogs to end-users in things like Chrome and Keynote. Smaller shops like Transit, Halide, Darkroom, and many others are going the opposite direction of Twitter and Facebook by offering very detailed and compelling (although sometimes a little too over the top) changelogs for their major releases. One thing I wish people did more, and I feel like I should carve out a section about this on Keep a Changelog: explain exactly what bugs were fixed. I know discrete updaters are becoming more rare with auto-updates, but seeing a specific bug that affected you specifically squashed in a release is perhaps one of the greatest values of changelogs, especially in the case of open source software but also with closed source apps.

yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
> on iOS specifically I wish. It's rampant on Android, too; of my recently updated apps right now, about half of them have release notes on the order of "bug fixes and performance enhancements". Even Google does it on their big-name apps!
- zingplex 8y ago
  I found that the changelogs on Android have never been that high quality to begin with. This is probably because from a very early stage (version 3.3.11), the Android Market automatically updated apps.
unilynx 8y ago
If you care that much about a specific bug, why not file or follow the relevant issue ? It shows maintainers which are the real issues affecting people, allows two-way communication about the bug, and keeps the changelog clean. Nodejs is an example of a project that seems to mention every single fixed bug in their changelog, making them so long that I'll probably miss the things that really matter while skimming over them - especially when jumping ahead a few versions.
- majewsky 8y ago
  > It shows maintainers which are the real issues affecting people I disagree. Sure, it's a signal, but it's quite distorted. Suppose you have an issue that affects a lot of people, but has a simple workaround. You may not see this issue since no one bothers to file a bug. If in doubt, I'd prefer to fix a papercut that affects 50% of my users vs. a catastrophic show-stopper bug that affects 0.01% of them.

starefossen 8y ago

One of the reasons these big ones don’t use a proper changelog is because new, and deprecated, features are controlled by dynamic feature toggles as opposed to what version of the app you are running. Of course, new version adds support for new toggles (features) but that is not a guarantee that they will be enabled for your user - or at all.

gitgud 8y ago
Even if they're not enabled by a user, surely it's important to state when they are added/removed from the application. I would like to check before I upgrade, if an app removes a feature, regardless of whether I'm using the feature or not.
- melevittfl 8y ago
  It’s not the user who is enabling them. It’s the app developers. They can remotely toggle features on and off.
  - gitgud 8y ago
    So some app configurations are changed by the developers at runtime. That doesn't mean they have to hide the existence of those features, or the reason for the update.

gitgud 8y ago

It's so annoying to see: "Every update of our Facebook app includes improvements for speed and reliability." It gives the impression that they've lost track of what they're updating or they want to hide what they're changing in the updates... also just very lazy

fapjacks 8y ago
You don't get annoyed seeing those retarded "changelog" messages if you don't install Facebook's app in the first place.
- Walkman 8y ago
  Yea sure, these are the two choices ONLY...
- masonic 8y ago
  Some phones have it as part of involuntary bloatware. The most you can do (short if rooting) is Force-stop it.
  - fapjacks 8y ago
    Is that real? Which phones are doing this to their consumers? That is fucking awful.

scarface74 8y ago

The problem is, the changelog matters when Facebook removes messaging functionality to push its users to their new app for some for-profit reason. App makers thought that monolithic multipurpose apps didn’t work well. Google did the same thing. https://www.computerworld.com/article/2488851/mobile-wireless/google-breaks-out-separate-mobile-docs--sheets--drive-apps.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/2488851/mobile-wireles...

boramalper 8y ago
Correct but in Facebook’s case they were also trying to push Messenger as a messaging platform that you could use without Facebook too, hence a separate app made more sense on a technical level, but also it was a huge marketing move. I personally find it annoying that Messenger is integrated into Facebook enough that I’m notified when there are pending messages, but not enough that I can’t check my messages on FB app...
- t-moe 8y ago
  Don't let facebook force you to install their messenger app. On https://mbasic.facebook.com https://mbasic.facebook.com you can still read the messages in the mobile browser.

mhw 8y ago

There’s reason to hope this might get better on the App Store: part of the app review guidelines updates this year addressed this specific issue. From http://www.appstorereviewguidelineshistory.com/articles/2018-06-04-wwdc2018/ http://www.appstorereviewguidelineshistory.com/articles/2018...: > Apps now must clearly describe new features and changes in the “What’s New” section of the App Store. Several of the large social network companies have been using a practice where they reuse a generic update text for every release and then enable new features remotely on a per-user basis. This appears to no longer be permitted.

y4mi 8y ago
> and then enable new features remotely on a per-user basis that should still be permitted, no? they'll just have to write "we added feature x, which we'll slowly roll out to all eligible users."
- badprose 8y ago
  > they'll just have to write "we added feature x, which we'll slowly roll out to all eligible users." This would be vastly preferably to the current: "Bug fixes and performance improvements"...

Reedx 8y ago

> Changelog matters when your favourite app which has been free for the past couple years have decided that it’s monetisable now and there are intermittent ads in your feed. That's a pretty uncharitable interpretation. After all, you used your favorite app for free for a couple years. Maybe they ran out of money. Maybe they tried to monetize in another way, but it didn't work and ads were the fallback to keep the service afloat (though also possible ads were the plan all along once scale was achieved). In any case, your favorite app isn't free to develop or host and you're not under any obligation to use it.

richardw 8y ago

I generally ignore those updates. If you can't take the time to sell me on it, the current version is fine. Flash degrades on writes. There's not that much space on a phone so why spend writes on weekly updates with no visible benefit.