Acknowledged
1 month ago

Given that a newer SDK is required to build for CIQ 5.x devices, what does this mean for existing apps on devices that were upgraded from CIQ 4 to CIQ 5 (e.g. FR955, Fenix 7, etc)? Do these apps just break?

Background:

- it has always by my understanding that if you build an app for a device with a given SDK, then that app should continue to work regardless of future firmware updates (in general). This ofc excludes situations where:

  - the new firmware update has a bug or breaking change

  - the existing app has a dormant bug which is exposed by a legit change in new firmware. e.g. newer firmware has a change where Weather.CurrentConditions.observationLocationName is null, and this caused several existing watchfaces to crash because they assume that field will never be null. But that's an application error, since that field has always been typed to be possibly null

- CIQ 5.* devices require various 7.X (or 8.X) SDKs to run properly

- Compilers have a check to ensure you don't try to build a a too-new device with a too-old device

- Due to a bug in this check, where older compilers (pre 7.2.0) seem to incorrectly believe that SDK version X can build any device with CIQ version X (or lower), it's possible for an SDK 6.X compiler to build an app for CIQ 5 devices. However, it's very possible that such an app will crash when it's run in the simulator or the device (we've already seen "bug reports" about this

- The existing crop of devices that came out with CIQ 4 (e.g. fr955, fr965, fenix7) have all been updated to CIQ 5. As far as I know, this is the first time that existing devices have received a major CIQ update since the move from CIQ 1 to CIQ 2.

- Someone in the CIQ team already clarified that CIQ 5 devices require apps to be built with newer SDKs.

So here's what I don't understand.

The two following statements seem to be mutually exclusive:

- If an app is built for a device with an existing SDK (e.g. SDK 6.4.0) it will continue (in general) to work on the device for all future firmware updates

- Devices with CIQ 5.* require a 7.X or 8.X SDK

The problem is that it was entirely possible to build an app for an fr955 (for example) with SDK 6.4.0 in the past, when fr955 was only on CIQ 4. If I installed such an app on my fr955 when it had CIQ 4, it would expect it to continue to work now that my device is on CIQ 5.

So how can it be possible that going forward, a 7.X or 8.X SDK is required to build for my fr955?

What am I missing? Has something also changed with the device files that's relevant here?

FlowState
Parents
  • 12 days ago

    > This is especially relevant if the dev only targets old devices 

    Speaking of this, a related feature request is the ability to use combine builds in an IQ file so that old devices were built with an old SDK and new devices were built with a new SDK, so devs can have their cake and eat it too.

    While I realize it's highly unlikely that this will ever be officially supported, it has come up before and shows that there is a real desire amongst devs to (conservatively) avoid changing the version of the SDK that's used to build existing devices. It makes sense since any change at all can be considered a risk (or additional work/testing) compared to no change.

    For example, suppose I have a complex app which has been built and tested for dozens of old devices on an old SDK (say, 6.4.2). This could even include currently-supported devices like FR955 and FR965, back when they were on CIQ 4.x. But crucially, it also includes a ton of old CIQ 2/3 devices like FR235, FR935 and FR945 which will never receive a major (or minor) CIQ update.

    Now I want to add support for CIQ 5 devices (like Fenix 8 and newly-updated FR955/FR965), which obligates me to update to SDK 8.1.0 and use it build for *all* devices. Other than changing the SDK version, I do not change anything else about my app.

    Given that I did change the SDK version, it seems that I should now go back and test my app for all devices (at least in the sim) - or at least certain groups of devices - to make sure nothing broke simply due to updating the SDK.

    Sure, nothing is *supposed* to break, but that's not a great assumption to make, right?

    And if old devices could be built with the old SDK version (same as last build), then there would be no reason to re-test the old devices at all. (Unless you have the physical devices handy, and you want to test with new firmware. But it's impractical for most devs to have a significant number of devices lying around.)

    So to be clear, simply using a newer SDK is a perceived risk, when you've already built and tested your app for old devices on an old SDK.

    That's why devices which are medically certified (for example) receive fewer updates than usual - because they would have to be re-certified every time something changes, right? Isn't that why Garmin LTE devices (945LTE and VA3 LTE) received fewer updates at longer intervals compared to other devices?

Comment
  • 12 days ago

    > This is especially relevant if the dev only targets old devices 

    Speaking of this, a related feature request is the ability to use combine builds in an IQ file so that old devices were built with an old SDK and new devices were built with a new SDK, so devs can have their cake and eat it too.

    While I realize it's highly unlikely that this will ever be officially supported, it has come up before and shows that there is a real desire amongst devs to (conservatively) avoid changing the version of the SDK that's used to build existing devices. It makes sense since any change at all can be considered a risk (or additional work/testing) compared to no change.

    For example, suppose I have a complex app which has been built and tested for dozens of old devices on an old SDK (say, 6.4.2). This could even include currently-supported devices like FR955 and FR965, back when they were on CIQ 4.x. But crucially, it also includes a ton of old CIQ 2/3 devices like FR235, FR935 and FR945 which will never receive a major (or minor) CIQ update.

    Now I want to add support for CIQ 5 devices (like Fenix 8 and newly-updated FR955/FR965), which obligates me to update to SDK 8.1.0 and use it build for *all* devices. Other than changing the SDK version, I do not change anything else about my app.

    Given that I did change the SDK version, it seems that I should now go back and test my app for all devices (at least in the sim) - or at least certain groups of devices - to make sure nothing broke simply due to updating the SDK.

    Sure, nothing is *supposed* to break, but that's not a great assumption to make, right?

    And if old devices could be built with the old SDK version (same as last build), then there would be no reason to re-test the old devices at all. (Unless you have the physical devices handy, and you want to test with new firmware. But it's impractical for most devs to have a significant number of devices lying around.)

    So to be clear, simply using a newer SDK is a perceived risk, when you've already built and tested your app for old devices on an old SDK.

    That's why devices which are medically certified (for example) receive fewer updates than usual - because they would have to be re-certified every time something changes, right? Isn't that why Garmin LTE devices (945LTE and VA3 LTE) received fewer updates at longer intervals compared to other devices?

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