We hit the big 5 – 0! This is the 50th release of mycroft-core, the central code that connects the entire Mycroft ecosystem. Here are details:
Release Validation Process
This was a fairly pedestrian release, which is one of the actually exciting aspects. We have implemented a new Release Validation process, which means getting from an “unstable” build based on the code that sits in the ‘dev’ branch of our Github repo to an official release is now clearly defined. To be stable-worthy, a release must comply with these basics:
- Users can install or upgrade on common platforms (Mark 1, Picroft, Ubuntu / Github)
- Mark 1 and Picroft users can connect to wifi, as well as pair with Mycroft Home
- On all platforms, skill installation is possible
- On all platforms, the system will automatically upgrade when a new release is available
If these essential requirements are met, then any issue can be resolved. The pragmatist in me knows completely bug-free is impossible, so this defines “good enough” clearly.
mycroft-core 0.8.19
Fixes
- ISSUE #887: Mycroft Skills Manager (MSM) was failing on a Mark 1 with skills that had missing library requirements. (PR #907)
- Fixed missing period in cached WAV files from the Text to Speech system. They were missing a period before the file extension, e.g. “cachedfilewav” instead of “cachedfile.wav”. (PR #921)
- Fixed bug that prevented the “expect_response” mechanism from triggering. (PR #920)
Developer & API Enhancements
- Added official support for running Kaldi locally as a STT server. (PR #878)
This is a backup - Added script for updating dev environment. (PR #914)
- Added new intent fallback system for dealing with unhandled intents. Multiple Skills can now register as fall-back handlers with a self-assigned priority. Handlers are invoked by priority until one handles the intent. (PR #899)
- Skills are no longer need to provide a name parameter when calling their base initializer. It now defaults to the classname of the skill. (PR #918)
Picroft Unstable Build
A publicly available “unstable” build of Picroft is now available which fixes a problem that cropped up recently with an expired GPG key, but it also implements a new auto-update system that will keep the Picroft installation in sync with the contents of the ‘master’ branch of the enclosure-picroft repo.
You can download and install an unstable Picroft image right now. We expect this to be declared stable soon.
Steve has been building cutting edge yet still highly usable technology for over 25 years, previously leading teams at Autodesk and the Rhythm Engineering. He now leads the development team at Mycroft as a partner and the CTO.