HexSLayer Release Updates

by Stephen Fluin 2012.03.15

HexSLayer recently launched a few new versions. In the Android Marketplace (Now known as Google Play), HexSLayer 1.0.19 was launched, and in the Amazon App Store, HexSLayer 1.0.20 was launched. These may be the last updates for a few weeks, as there has been a major update to the packing system I use, known has PyGame Subset for Andoir. Both of the published versions of HexSLayer use PyGame Subset for Android (PGSA) version 0.9.3. This has been a great framework for me, as I have been able to write applications and games in Python, and then launch them simultaneously on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android.

With the latest update of PGSA to version 0.9.4, there has been a change to how the system packages applications. Before, the system would copy over the raw Python source files (or .py files), but now the tool packages only the optimized and compiled versions of Python applications (the .pyo file). This means that if you come from an earlier version on Android and upgrade, you will end up having both versions on your device.

The problem with this upgrade path is that it leaves both versions of the files on your device, and the Python subsystem by default runs the old version of the application. That means that there is new code on your device, your phone will always run the old code.  This has been the core issue preventing me from releasing HexSLayer 1.1.x.

I wrote to the author of PyGame Subset for Android, and discovered that he had a fix prepared that will allow me to continue using the old packaging method, while waiting for my users to upgrade to a version compatible with the new method.

As soon as PGSA 0.9.5 is release, I should be able to repackage and release the next set of features and bugfixes for HexSLayer.

Thanks for playing!


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