Growl 1.3 - no alerts

[dnanian]

Yes, but the preference pane actually wasn't what does the notification - it's just the UI. The "main application" was the Growl Helper app, launched by the preference pane.

[joelw135]

Originally Posted by dnanian

Yes, but the preference pane actually wasn't what does the notification - it's just the UI. The "main application" was the Growl Helper app, launched by the preference pane.

I removed the two files in Library, but I doubt that will help for scheduled alerts. Does it work for you with scheduled backups?

[dnanian]

I haven't installed it yet...

[rwross]

So, this is a bummer...

Let me make sure I understand the situation properly, because after initially deleting the plist files and letting Growl 1.3 recreate them, I get SuperDuper! notifications for backups I manually initiate, even if I manually initiate via the scheduled window.

I do NOT get any notifications for automatic updates that, I assume, are some sort of CRON job.

1) Is that what everyone else is experiencing and, Dave, what you'd expect given what you know now of the situation?

2) Whose issue is this to fix? SuperDuper? Growl? or Apple? If, Apple, I'd say we are screwed 'cause in my experience, this just isn't something that will even take the time to understand, let alone alter their user-experience to accommodate.

So...given that...any suggestions?

Dave, any option of adding a special and optional notification triggered by SD for Growl to see after a scheduled completion or fail.

In all honesty, this isn't a small thing for me. We recently corresponded via e-mail (thanks for that!!) because I had some failed SD backups that actually warned me of a failing hard drive before SMART saw any issues. The only reason I was clued in to that happening was because there was a Growl notification sitting on my desktop.

So, for me, it's a critical feature and any info on how to get it back would be most appreciated ;-)

[joelw135]

Originally Posted by rwross

So, this is a bummer...

Let me make sure I understand the situation properly, because after initially deleting the plist files and letting Growl 1.3 recreate them, I get SuperDuper! notifications for backups I manually initiate, even if I manually initiate via the scheduled window.

I do NOT get any notifications for automatic updates that, I assume, are some sort of CRON job.

1) Is that what everyone else is experiencing and, Dave, what you'd expect given what you know now of the situation?

2) Whose issue is this to fix? SuperDuper? Growl? or Apple? If, Apple, I'd say we are screwed 'cause in my experience, this just isn't something that will even take the time to understand, let alone alter their user-experience to accommodate.

So...given that...any suggestions?

Dave, any option of adding a special and optional notification triggered by SD for Growl to see after a scheduled completion or fail.

In all honesty, this isn't a small thing for me. We recently corresponded via e-mail (thanks for that!!) because I had some failed SD backups that actually warned me of a failing hard drive before SMART saw any issues. The only reason I was clued in to that happening was because there was a Growl notification sitting on my desktop.

So, for me, it's a critical feature and any info on how to get it back would be most appreciated ;-)

I submitted a ticket for this, but have not gotten a response yet. Yes manual backups get a Growl alert, but scheduled backups do not. For me this is a huge problem as I depend on the MailMe alert when out.

[dnanian]

I'm sorry that Growl broke compatibility. Reinstalling the older version might be a reasonable thing to do if this is critical functionality for you.

As I said, we're working on it. But I'm not likely to release an update *just* to fix Growl - any needed changes will be in the next update (no date given).

Note, too - our stuff has to support 10.4.11 and later. If Growl has caused themselves to break with older versions, we won't exclude Tiger users from a minor update just to support Growl's new release... in my opinion, their changes broke compatibility (we used their own 'best practices' to support Growl in the first place), and that's not a good enough reason to stop supporting our 10.4 users...

Finally, because they moved to the Mac App Store, that also means that they'll be sandboxed in the future. This may make it *impossible* for us to support Growl when they get fully locked down.

[rwross]

Hi Dave...

I heard back from Growl today. They indicated that they had sent you recommended modifications to SuperDuper! that would render it usable with Growl 1.3.1 again.

Do you think you'll be releasing a patch soon?

[dnanian]

I don't know when the next version is going to be released, sorry... but we're looking at the workaround they provided for the compatibility they broke in the Mac App Store version.

[rwross]

Dave...I understand...

How about this as an alternative...

After you take a look at their workaround, which I assume is likely some kind of scripting, xml, or plist modification, and you've confirmed that it will do no harm, could you make it available as an optional download for those users who would like to patch their current version of SD? Perhaps, just by adding a d/l link to the patch file(s) in this thread.

If it's a file that's part of the .app package and needs to be swapped out, those who are comfortable doing so, could just pop open the app contents and make the change themselves. That way, you aren't troubled with another release and those who are affected by this can patch their SD knowing you've at least looked at the workaround to determine its validity.

That work?

pax,
rwr

[dnanian]

It's something I'll consider.

[rwross]

Hi Dave...

Any more thoughts on this? Did you have a chance to review what the Growl team sent over?

Much thanks!!

take care,
rwr

[dnanian]

Working on it. We'll likely be unable to support non-scheduled notifications either in 10.4 or recent Growl due to their changes.

[rwross]

Originally Posted by dnanian

Working on it. We'll likely be unable to support non-scheduled notifications either in 10.4 or recent Growl due to their changes.

Thanks for the quick response.

Well, the news could be far worse. From my perspective, getting notifications back for scheduled backups is far more important than that of non-scheduled backups.

My scheduled backups run in the middle of the night and Growl is the only way I know if they succeeded without checking the SD logs. If I manually initiate one, SD remains open so I can easily check back to see if it was successful.

In short...this is great news...Thanks!!

My last question clearly comes under the heading of "no good deed goes unpunished," Any ideas on when you might have this out?

Thanks again...
rwr

[dnanian]

I don't provide release dates unless we're done and really scheduled for release.

[rwross]

Hi Dave,

Been a couple of months since I last checked in on this.

Have you been able to apply the fix provided by Growl, and if it worked, are you comfortable releasing it to folks?

If it didn't work, any thoughts on how/if notification support could be either restored via Growl or just provided by a SD specific option to display a persistent dialogue box indicating success/failure of a scheduled backup?

Thanks!

take care,
rwr