Trackers check for new firmware every few hours and install it on their own, unless
Auto-Update is turned off on the tracker’s web page. Each tracker follows one channel:
Stable (the default) or Beta. A build only reaches stable after running on beta.
Both channels serve exactly the same file; moving a build to stable doesn’t rebuild it.
How versions are named.v3.3.2-etr.4 means: based on upstream
Transit Tracker v3.3.2, ETR build 4. The ETR number only ever goes up, even when the upstream version changes
(v3.3.2-etr.7 could be followed by v3.4.0-etr.8). Builds made outside the release process report
dev and never update themselves.
How a build gets here
1. Alpha (bench)
On test units at ETR, installed by hand. Never offered to anyone. To leave alpha,
a build must pass all of these on the hardware it is for:
Shows departures with correct colours and panel order
No clipped letters and no visible flicker
Settings survive a push from the configurator and a power cycle
Updating from the previous release works and keeps settings
Runs 48 hours without restarting
2. Beta
Installed automatically on trackers whose owners chose the
Beta channel. To move on, a build needs:
At least 7 days on beta
At least 2 to 3 trackers running it
No problem reports
No more reboots per tracker per day than the same trackers had on the current stable build
(none at all, for trackers with no stable history). A tracker reboots itself after about 3–4 minutes
without a connection to the feed; ETR counts these from the feed server’s connection log.
3. Stable
Every tracker, including signs in businesses that nobody watches day to day.
If a problem turns up, the previous stable build goes straight back out; trackers reinstall it on their next check.
Any exception to these steps is stated in that release’s notes. For a new hardware model with no
trackers in the field yet, ETR’s own test units stand in for beta testers.
Clock times on the display now use Edmonton time. Before this, the firmware used Pacific time, so arrival times shown as a clock time were an hour early.
Follows Alberta's year-round time (UTC-6): no clock change in November.
No other changes from v3.3.2-etr.4.
Emergency patch: built directly on v3.3.2-etr.4 with this one change. It skips the usual bench soak (exception recorded here, as the release rules require).
Most people never need these files: trackers update themselves, and the configurator’s
Initial setup flashes a new one from the browser.
The factory image is for a first install over USB; the update image is what trackers download.
Works on networks that block internet time servers.
If the tracker cannot reach a time server (some business and office networks block them), it now sets its clock over a normal web connection instead. Before this, it stayed on "Waiting for time sync".
No change on networks where time sync already works.
Most people never need these files: trackers update themselves, and the configurator’s
Initial setup flashes a new one from the browser.
The factory image is for a first install over USB; the update image is what trackers download.
Badge layout (opt-in) and classic layout, based on upstream v3.3.2.
This device now checks updates.edmontontransitriders.org for new versions. Turn off Auto-Update on the device's web page if you would rather install updates yourself.
Released to stable about ten hours after it reached beta, without the usual 7-day beta period, to fix the configurator's setup page installing an older build that never updated itself.
Most people never need these files: trackers update themselves, and the configurator’s
Initial setup flashes a new one from the browser.
The factory image is for a first install over USB; the update image is what trackers download.
What ETR’s firmware adds to upstream
Badge layout (optional): route numbers in coloured badges, with ETR’s route colours.
Real-time indicators: wave, bar or dot, chosen in the configurator.
ETR update channel: stable and beta, served by ETR, with the choice on the tracker itself.
