Staying up to date

Upgrading Zapit

Upgrade Notifications

The Zapit main window will print a notification in the title bar when a new version is available. If you installed via the MATLAB Add On Manager then you can return there to update the software. Note: At the time of writing the MATLAB Add On Manager has a bug that may cause the update to fail. If you receive an error, you can update by simply uninstalling and re-installing via the Add On Manager.

Is it safe to upgrade?

You are encouraged to keep the software up to date and the way new versions are handled is designed to provide confidence that a new release will not break anything. New versions will appear as GitHub releases and on the MATLAB File Exchange. All changes will be detailed in the changelog and new releases will generally alter just a small number of things. The version number will be the clearest indication of how major the changes are.

Zapit uses a system similar to semantic versioning, meaning it has a version number denoted as MAJOR.MINOR.PATCHBriefly, increments to the MINOR and PATCH version numbers will not be associated with potentially breaking changes. Only increments to the MAJOR version number will be.

• The MAJOR version is incremented when there are incompatible API changes, or changes in functionality which might carry important caveats. You should review the nature of a MAJOR version change before upgrading a production system. An example of a MAJOR change might be that the API commands running the experiments change.

• The MINOR version is incremented when functionality is added in a backwards compatible manner. This might mean significant new features that do not break existing functionality, or it might mean existing features are significantly improved. For example, addition of a rat atlas, or improvements in the way stimulus conditions are overlaid in the main GUI.

• The PATCH version is incremented when there are backwards compatible bug fixes. It may also be incremented by the addition of new example code snippets, or by code changes which result in no functionality change.

TL/DR

If your current version differs from the latest version in only the MINOR or PATCH version numbers then it is almost certainly safe to upgrade, even on a production system in the middle of a series of experiments. As always, see the changelog first. Increments of the MAJOR version number should be treated with more caution. Breaking changes will be flagged as such in the changelog.