How can I update my Linux installation on a regular basis?

[Desmond Aubery]

Dear Thomas,
Congratulations on an incredible RPN calculator. Thank you very much.
I've installed successfully on my Lubuntu Linux system.
May I ask for instructions on how to update the installation on a regular basis, in order to capture your latest code additions?
Thank you very much.

[Thomas Okken]

You could create a shell script that uses wget with the -N option, so it only downloads Free42Linux.tgz if it has changed since the last download. For example, let's say you keep the executable in $HOME/bin, and you also keep the tarball in that same directory:

#!/bin/sh

cd $HOME/bin

wget -N https://thomasokken.com/free42/download/Free42Linux.tgz 2> err.txt

grep -q 'not modified' err.txt

if [ $? -eq 1 ] ; then

    tar xfz Free42Linux.tgz

    mv Free42Linux/free42dec .

    rm -rf Free42Linux

    echo "Free42 updated"

else

    echo "Free42 already up to date"

fi

rm err.txt

This could be improved a bit in order to make it handle download failures properly.

Note that this script does not delete Free42Linux.tgz. It keeps that file, so that on the next run, wget -N can use the timestamp of the existing file to make sure it only downloads the file from the server if it is newer than the one that was previously downloaded.

[Desmond Aubery]

Thank you very much. Much appreciated. I'll test your approach in the morning. Have a wonderful rest of the day. 

[Desmond Aubery]

Hi Thomas,
I move the present HP directory to a name_date backup, then reinstall the whole package. 
Sufficient for now. Will set things in stone once your updates steady out on the present release (looks close, judging from your update flow).
I'd like to complement you on your HP42S series software. Absolutely consummately professional.  The HP calculator community is blessed by your skill and kind generosity. Kudos.
Best regards,
Desmond Aubery
(Thermal/Mechanical Engineer - class of 1982)

[Thomas Okken]

I expect no updates to Free42 for a while. Of course you never know when something may come up, like a bug report or an idea for an improvement, but there is nothing on my to-do list at the moment, and I'm trying to focus on Plus42, where there is still work in the pipeline.

As for keeping your Free42 installation current, there are alternatives to the method I suggested. One approach would be to send an If-Modified-Since header explicitly, which would mean you wouldn't have to keep the old tarball around in order to prevent unnecessary downloads. Or you could use a HEAD request to check the last-modified date on the file.

If you're doing the check in a cron job, I do request you do not blindly download the file every time without any timestamp checks, since that would cause unnecessary load on my web server. As long as it's only a few people doing that, it wouldn't be an issue, but if the idea catches on, a significant increase in load could theoretically force me to upgrade to a more expensive usage tier with my hosting provider.

The best option would be if all Linux package maintainers updated their Free42 packages whenever I put out a new update, but unfortunately, most of them don't do that. As far as I'm aware, only the Arch Linux packages get prompt updates, usually within a week.

[H]

Thank your Mr T for your generous contribution... a labour of luv.

Out of curiosity, Swiss Micros DM42 has always used your Free42 as their main program, and have been somewhat timely with their "keeping up".... DM42 is still at 3.1.8.... what would be the main reasons why the DM42 hasn't been kept abreast (even a few releases) with current releases? I'm not being pushy, just inquisitive.

Again - thank you Mr T. My Android thanks you from the bottom of it's cpu.

[Thomas Okken]

On Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at 6:04:15 PM UTC+1 panc...@gmail.com wrote:

Thank your Mr T for your generous contribution... a labour of luv.

My pleasure!

 

Out of curiosity, Swiss Micros DM42 has always used your Free42 as their main program, and have been somewhat timely with their "keeping up".... DM42 is still at 3.1.8.... what would be the main reasons why the DM42 hasn't been kept abreast (even a few releases) with current releases? I'm not being pushy, just inquisitive.

I'm not directly involved with SwissMicros, but as far as I'm aware, the main reason they tend to have a considerable lag with Free42 is because they have too many things on their hands to do the updates more often. The DM42 firmware is based on Free42, but with some substantial patches to add support for the DM42's big display, and this means that syncing with Free42 is not as simple as doing a merge and build; there is manual work and probably quite a bit of testing involved for each release.