Save Our Release Candidate Channels

A look at server deploys for this week has uncovered another goodie in the shape and form of a new function, llGetParcelMusicURL(), however a look at the Server/beta meeting minutes for this week reveals a baddie in the shape and form of hiding server channels, this should be resisted, despite the reasons for wanting to do this being fairly reasonable, it’s the wrong solution.

Let’s start with the goodie, in scripting it’s common to have setters and getters. There’s no great mystery to what they do, setters as you’d exepect set values and getters, as you’d expect, get values. We’ve long had a setter for parcel music in the form of llSetParcelMusicURL() , this is used to set music streams on parcels and requires permission to do so, often the scripted object will need to be deeded to the group, well it will be on group owned land, people who have used radios and televisions on group owned land will be familiar with this procedure. However there had previously been no getter counterpart, although Jira SCR-31, requesting the creation of llGetParcelMusicURL() was created almost four years ago.

However we haven’t had the getter, until now, it’s currently only available on the Le Tigre RC channel but will soon be grid wide I’m sure. This function will return the parcel music URL, as you may well suspect already! Like it’s counterpart you may need to deed the object to a group for it to work and it won’t matter if the parcel music url has been set manually or via a script, as long as you have permission to get the URL, you will be able to do so.

A basic script to test this will look something like this … well it does like this, this is a basic script I used to test it!

string myMusic;

default
{
    state_entry()
    {

        myMusic = llGetParcelMusicURL();
    }

    touch_start(integer total_number)
    {
       llSay(0, myMusic);
    }
}

Now if you are testing this, remember that on group owned land you’ll have to deed the object that the script is in, and that this means you need to take note of next owner perms, or else you will find you can’t copy or modify it … not that I’d make a schoolboy error like this you understand!

However I was able to test this because one of my mainland parcels is on a Le Tigre release candidate channel and I can find this by going to help and about in the Second Life client. This isn’t the only way to find a channel, however it is the easiest. The baddie is that at this week’s server beta user group, Oskar pointed out there are negatives of people being able to find channels so easily, they complain that things aren’t working and think it’s because they are on a release channel, when the fault or issue may be completely unrelated to that fact. Oskar said that people have a negative view of RC channels.

I can understand where Oskar is coming from but the answer isn’t to hide the information away, information is King and should be positively embraced, the issue is that people don’t understand the purpose of release channels, that’s the bottom line and you’re not going to change that lack of understanding by hiding the information. This brings us back to a regular feature of mine, Linden Lab why don’t you talk anymore! The server deployment forum is one of the more interesting areas of the forum, but why aren’t they blogging what they’re doing? Why aren’t they explaining what release channels are?

Linden Lab talk to your audience, this won’t cure all the ills of people thinking they are having problems because they are on a release channel, but it will go some way to reducing those claims if people are more informed and others can step in and point to the information about release channels, personally, I love the way Linden Lab release code these days. Long may it continue!