news app has no compatible version for the upcoming Nextcloud 30

[brot]

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Explain the Problem

What problem did you encounter?

news app has no compatible version for the upcoming Nextcloud 30 (currently Nextcloud 30.0.0 beta 1)

Steps to Reproduce

Explain what you did to encounter the issue

1. Change update channel to "beta" channel
2. Go the the Administration settings overview
3. "news" app will be reported under "Apps missing compatible version"

System Information

• News app version: 25.0.0-alpha8
• Nextcloud version: Nextcloud Hub 8 (29.0.4)
• Cron type: system cron
• PHP version: 8.2.21
• Database and version: PostgreSQL 15.7
• Browser and version: Firefox 128.0.3
• OS and version: macOS 14.5

[kinggrowler]

Is this app dead? There have been no updates for a long time, and the lack of updates is blocking my upgrade to a newer version of Nextcloud. Is it time to move on to a different RSS reader?

[SMillerDev]

Is this app dead? There have been no updates for a long time.

I don't think a month is very long: https://github.com/nextcloud/news/releases/tag/25.0.0-alpha8

[kinggrowler]

Is this app dead? There have been no updates for a long time.

I don't think a month is very long: https://github.com/nextcloud/news/releases/tag/25.0.0-alpha8

Sure, that's fair. I hadn't seen all the pre-release versions, I'd only noticed that the last stable release was from Sept. 2023. There has been a tremendous amount of work done on the pre-release of v25, and the devs are to be commended for their hard work.

I got frustrated because News is a critical Nextcloud app for me, and I'm currently stuck on Nextcloud 27.1.11, because there's no stable upgrade path to Nextcloud v28, 29, etc, unless I leave News behind. I'd prefer to keep my Nextcloud version more current and up-to-date, but News is critical for me, so I'm staying with the latest version that is still supported by the stable version of News. I've seen some discusions on how to manually edit files to get the pre-release version of News working with current versions of Nextcloud, but I'd prefer to upgrade both in a more organic and fool-proof way. I can wait for a stable release.

[SMillerDev]

I've seen some discusions on how to manually edit files to get the pre-release version of News working with current versions of Nextcloud, but I'd prefer to upgrade both in a more organic and fool-proof way. I can wait for a stable release.

You only need to edit files if you want to run the stable version on an unsupported (by news) nextcloud version.
The unstable version doesn't need any tweaks, but is missing some UI elements that the stable version has.

[cstackpole]

Greetings,
Similar situation to @kinggrowler . Stuck on old version of Nextcloud because News is a critical app for me.

For those that find this thread...

You only need to edit files if you want to run the stable version on an unsupported (by news) nextcloud version.

Seems like this might be the best information: #2703

The unstable version doesn't need any tweaks, but is missing some UI elements that the stable version has.

I believe this might be the best location to see what is missing: #2503

I don't know - just what I found in the time I spent today trying to understand where things are at. It would be nice to have something very clear in the documentation (or the main README) that gives directions on the path forward.

After reading various threads linking all over the place, I'm still nervous to upgrade from 27 as both Nextcloud and News are critical for me (self-hosting for myself, my wife, and two other family members - not a large setup, but we all use it every day). On the other-hand, how long do I risk being open to security issues because I'm no longer getting patches?
It's a really terrible position to be in: upgrade for security following random threads for hacky work-arounds or hold out for a supported release?

[Grotax]

I can understand that some people are annoyed by the situation.

The thing is News needs someone or multiple people to fix and complete the frontend.

We had to throw away the old UI as it is outdated technology.

Unfortunately News does not have anyone like that. Nobody is willing to spend time on the frontend/UI.

And it does not make sense to release a "stable" version with an unfinished UI and broken UI.

If someone would spend the time to understand the frontend and fix the broken stuff complete the missing features we would be much closer to a stable release again.

If you do not use the web UI and only external clients like the android app you are fine to go with the alpha version. At some point there will also be an alpha version supporting NC 30.

[cstackpole]

Thanks for replying and for the work you've done for this project.That's unfortunate and sad news, however. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Vue and would not be the help that is needed. I wish I knew how to help.

I've mentioned this for years now, but I'll say it again in hopes that someone with authority hears it - I really wish Nextcloud had a way for users to say "Pay attention to this app; it's important to me." I've told people who work for Nextcloud to their face at conferences before (including this year!) "I know I'm a small home user, but I'd pay to have the apps I care about supported." Yes, I know - some developers have support/tips/buy-coffee donations - but there's no way to really say "I'm paying for this Nextcloud app I adore!" I donate to other Open Source projects, but there isn't a good way that I know about within the Nextcloud ecosystem without being a big company. Maybe one day Nextcloud will have a way for us small home users to better support the app creators. 😩

I do primarily use the web UI, however, if I need to switch to a client to update I can try that. I'll find a news app that works in my current setup then try an upgrade to alpha. I'll report back when I've got something that others might find useful/interesting.

Thanks!

[mschilli87]

Just as an extra data point: Today I updated from 27.1.10 to 28.0.9 and from there to 29.0.6 while keeping the News app at the stable channel. I added the CSS linked at #2703 (comment) via the Custom CSS app and at least to me the News app works just as well as before.

[britter]

I'm running NextCloud 29 with the nightly version of the News app. The UI has some glitches and misses some features but overall it's working fine for me. My suggestion to the maintainers is to release what you have as official, even if it does not have all the features of the old UI. It's better to get something into the hands of users then putting it on the shelf forever.