Four version numbers??

two little suggestions:
- tag these minor releases in git, too
- sign tags with gpg (git tag -s -u <email> <tag>)

would probably help those of us compiling from source being a little bit more sure that it's actually the right source, that is definitively supposed to work.

of course we still have to trust gavin (and his key) but its a whole lot better than trusting github, or whatever place one clones the git from

I think we should just not expose version numbers directly. Internally the software identifies itself using block chain indexes as the version number, that does fine (or dates). Numbers like 0.3.20.3 are quite intimidating for regular users and make the software look much rougher than it really is.

Google Chrome has the right idea IMHO. No user visible version numbers, silent and automatic updates. It'd be good to get it auto updating for those who want that (yeah i know, patches patches :-).

Any news on the availability of the Mac build?

Thank you for your efforts!

-1 disagree.

There are two types of people running BitCoin nodes - dedicated, technically sophisticated users who have understood Satoshis paper, who can read C++, understand asymmetric crypto and so on. And then there's everyone else.

The latter group aren't reviewing changes to the node software, and as they don't understand BitCoin in depth they are implicitly trusting other people who say it works anyway. So automatic updates can only benefit them by keeping their software secure against flaws that are found.

The former group either wouldn't use the auto-updated version and would continue to download the builds as posted, or would decide they trust Gavin/Satoshi implicitly and accept the auto updates, perhaps doing a review of the changes later on.

Bitcoin client in Debian:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=578157
(link to Jonas repo in thread)

Some usefull utils, miners, etc.:
http://bt.irlbtc.com/view/2207.0
(inside 2 repo: Tuxsoul's and my)

P.S.
My opinion: autoupdate -- it's another useless "make me a cofee" function.

Actually I believe it does now.

Hi,

there seems to be something mixed up.
1. Development of Bitcoin's protocol and overall functionality as a system
2. Bitcoin as a end user software

For now Bitcoin as a system comes into existence only by means of the software (and its UI) which serves as a reference implementation.

My point is that auto-updating is a UI feature and thus almost irrelevant for Bitcoin as a system (and its success).
Rather than throwing more (UI-related) work in here, things like that should probably better be moved out of the way of busy people like Gavin.

I think auto-update is definitely very convenient for the average user, even for a lot of technical sophisticated people, I suppose.
Still, feature rich user experience should better be left to sophisticaed UI clients with all the user experience bells&whistles eg. auto-updates.

An idea for an easy-to-use UI: I just came across Adobe AIR which might be used to bundle bitcoind with bitcoin-js-remote by tcatm, thus creating a desktop alternative for the wxBitcoin client with an appealing, feature rich UI and built in auto-updating. Has anybody experience with this programming environment?

regards,
Marco