RIP Vuze!

[LuvVuze]

Why do I get the feeling that Vuze is on its way out?  No beta updates in 7 weeks, Antivirus will not update, and meta search is worthless without decent search templates.

After many years of enjoying and supporting Vuze as a Plus member, it seems like I might have to find alternatives :(

Could I be wrong?

[RogerTheDodger]

It works fine for me. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.

[FirstPrime]

Why do I get the feeling that Vuze is on its way out?  No beta updates in 7 weeks, Antivirus will not update, and meta search is worthless without decent search templates.

After many years of enjoying and supporting Vuze as a Plus member, it seems like I might have to find alternatives :(

Could I be wrong?



 

I have the feeling you are right.  

I've not seen Beta updates since April 11th, six weeks ago.  

None of their Featured Content is downloading, Ted Talks, NASACast, etc.. It looks like their trackers are down.  

I've not seen any replies from the developers on this forum in quite a while.  

I've been using and supporting Vuze for over 10 years, at least they should make an announcement or something.  Slow death is not the way to go on this!

[LuvVuze]

Sorry you feel that way Roger, but, as can be seen by the second reply to my post, I am not alone in reading the writing on the wall.  Would be nice if we could all help one another to deal with the problems we are confronted with.  I have been with Vuze for over 10 years and contributed to enhancing the program often.  I think my concern with present events is well founded.

I wish you well, Roger and thanks for helping to confirm my suspicions, FirstPrime.  It might be of interest that a Vuze staff member read my posy with no response.

[RogerTheDodger]

Sorry you feel that way Roger, but, as can be seen by the second reply to my post, I am not alone in reading the writing on the wall.  Would be nice if we could all help one another to deal with the problems we are confronted with.  I have been with Vuze for over 10 years and contributed to enhancing the program often.  I think my concern with present events is well founded.

I wish you well, Roger and thanks for helping to confirm my suspicions, FirstPrime.  It might be of interest that a Vuze staff member read my posy with no response.

 

I still have the installer for Azureus version 2.3.0.6, which is dated April 2006, so I presume that's when I first started using "Vuze".

I always use the Classic user interface and don't recall ever using a Beta version - probably because the private trackers I use allow specific versions of clients and Beta versions are usually not allowed. I use my own antivirus so don't need that and I don't search using Vuze - I use Bit Che for films, etc, and the RSS feed plugin to get regular series episodes.

I can't think of any more features that could possibly improve what Vuze does right now, but I'm sure Parg will come up with something.

In fact, most of the people I know have changed to much less complicated torrent clients because they don't know how to use most of the current settings and features in Vuze. I tell them if only they'd stuck with Vuze as it developed they would appreciate all the clever things it can do now. But some people just want things to be simple.

I guess the main reason why my original response was so testy was because I often don't change my Vuze version for years. Reading that you thought Vuze was dying because there hadn't been an update for 7 weeks just made me groan.

[FeRDNYC]

I still have the installer for Azureus version 2.3.0.6, which is dated April 2006, so I presume that's when I first started using "Vuze".
 

So... you're a digital packrat?

I always use the Classic user interface

Same here.

and don't recall ever using a Beta version

Huh. I've been asked to, several times, and have always dutifully complied so that I could test the solutions to any bugs I reported or features I requested. (The private trackers I use don't technically support any version of Vuze, but fortunately don't enforce that programmatically so I just carry on with the knowledge that I'm "breaking the rules" and may suffer consequences for that fact.)

I can't think of any more features that could possibly improve what Vuze does right now, but I'm sure Parg will come up with something.

New features? Personally, not any I can think of right now. But there are definitely bugs, (some serious) or misfeatures I'd like to see addressed. And in a technical landscape as shifting and unsteady as BitTorrent, there will no doubt be external developments that need to be addtessed. (In fact, that reminds me that there is one new feature I'd like to see: IPv6 support in the IP Filter blocklist. Without that ability, I've had to turn off IPv6 on my bittorrent box.) The suggestion that any piece of software "doesn't need development" is dubious at best.

I guess the main reason why my original response was so testy was because I often don't change my Vuze version for years. Reading that you thought Vuze was dying because there hadn't been an update for 7 weeks just made me groan.

In fairness, that was neither the suggestion, nor is it the reality. The claim was that there have been no betas in two months, which actually is a long time. The last update to Vuze was on 2017-02-28 (Vuze 5.7.5.0 released), and that was followed by betas released on -02-28, -03-02, -03-07, -03-09, -03-13, -03-16, -03-17, -03-28, and -04-10. As you can see, the beta release cycle is normally very rapid, but it halted entirely and without explanation over two months ago. Based on the pattern of recent releases, 5.7.6.0 (or 5.8.0.0) would've typically been released some time last month.

In addition to that, the last code change committed to the vuze source repository was checked in on 2017-04-25 by pgardner. (That's parg, AFAICT). The typical monthly commit rate is anywhere from 70-120, roughly (there were 27 in 2016-07, a 5-year low), but this past April saw only 12 commits, and there has been no activity whatsoever since then.

Beyond that, parg has been absent from these forums completely for over two weeks (last visit: 2017-06-07), and hasn't posted since 2017-04-25. While ArronM last visited on Monday, they also haven't posted since 2017-03-24.

That's an awful lot of silence. While LuvVuze's post may have been phrased indelicately, there's nothing there that others of us haven't been also been thinking. I'm perfectly willing to assume that people simply got busy behind-the-scenes, or they have been caught up dealing with other things lately. It happens. But the silence is becoming deafening, and it would be nice to know what's going on because it has not gone unnoticed.

[kkariku]

Dear,
So far Vuze is the best. In case, there is a better choice please let all of us know.

[RogerTheDodger]

I still have the installer for Azureus version 2.3.0.6, which is dated April 2006, so I presume that's when I first started using "Vuze". 

So... you're a digital packrat?

The size of my "Utilities Master Copies" folder is 193 GB containing 68,777 files in 8,116 folders. So to answer your question... er, "yes". :)

I always use the Classic user interface

Same here.

and don't recall ever using a Beta version

Huh. I've been asked to, several times, and have always dutifully complied so that I could test the solutions to any bugs I reported or features I requested. (The private trackers I use don't technically support any version of Vuze, but fortunately don't enforce that programmatically so I just carry on with the knowledge that I'm "breaking the rules" and may suffer consequences for that fact.)

Nobody ever asked me :'( But well done for doing your bit. Some of my private trackers don't allow Vuze either - Lord knows why. But they don't force you to stop, merely state "if you have a problem, you won't get support". But I rarely have a problem! :) Tracker sites not implementing RSS is my main gripe. They appear not to want people to use RSS because they want people to log in, have a chat and become "part of the community".

That's the last thing I want to do! Sorry!

I can't think of any more features that could possibly improve what Vuze does right now, but I'm sure Parg will come up with something.

New features? Personally, not any I can think of right now. But there are definitely bugs, (some serious) or misfeatures I'd like to see addressed. And in a technical landscape as shifting and unsteady as BitTorrent, there will no doubt be external developments that need to be addressed. (In fact, that reminds me that there is one new feature I'd like to see: IPv6 support in the IP Filter blocklist. Without that ability, I've had to turn off IPv6 on my bittorrent box.) The suggestion that any piece of software "doesn't need development" is dubious at best.

That serious bug is a bad one, but I'm guessing most people don't do "Search For Existing Files...". The biggest "new" feature I tried to use was "tags". Initially it looked good but then I found some things that didn't quite work as I liked, plus the confusion between tags and categories, so I went back to just using categories.

I guess the main reason why my original response was so testy was because I often don't change my Vuze version for years. Reading that you thought Vuze was dying because there hadn't been an update for 7 weeks just made me groan.

In fairness, that was neither the suggestion, nor is it the reality. The claim was that there have been no betas in two months, which actually is a long time. The last update to Vuze was on 2017-02-28 (Vuze 5.7.5.0 released), and that was followed by betas released on -02-28, -03-02, -03-07, -03-09, -03-13, -03-16, -03-17, -03-28, and -04-10. As you can see, the beta release cycle is normally very rapid, but it halted entirely and without explanation over two months ago. Based on the pattern of recent releases, 5.7.6.0 (or 5.8.0.0) would've typically been released some time last month.

In addition to that, the last code change committed to the vuze source repository was checked in on 2017-04-25 by pgardner. (That's parg, AFAICT). The typical monthly commit rate is anywhere from 70-120, roughly (there were 27 in 2016-07, a 5-year low), but this past April saw only 12 commits, and there has been no activity whatsoever since then.

Beyond that, parg has been absent from these forums completely for over two weeks (last visit: 2017-06-07), and hasn't posted since 2017-04-25. While ArronM last visited on Monday, they also haven't posted since 2017-03-24.

That's an awful lot of silence. While LuvVuze's post may have been phrased indelicately, there's nothing there that others of us haven't been also been thinking. I'm perfectly willing to assume that people simply got busy behind-the-scenes, or they have been caught up dealing with other things lately. It happens. But the silence is becoming deafening, and it would be nice to know what's going on because it has not gone unnoticed.

It certainly does look like the developers are having a bit of a holiday. Can't blame them for that. Maybe parg will give us an update soon.

[FeRDNYC]

The biggest "new" feature I tried to use was "tags". Initially it looked good but then I found some things that didn't quite work as I liked, plus the confusion between tags and categories, so I went back to just using categories.

 

You're still using Categories? Ewww! Tags are the bee's knees. (Or were, until the tabs misfeature, which is why it frustrates me so.) Especially from an automation standpoint, which it sounds like is important to you. They may have taken a bit of time to fully flesh out, but now that's done and you should absolutely switch to tags and forget Categories ever existed.

You can automate nearly any action or setting on a torrent simply by applying a tag: save path, seeding/speed parameters, completion moving, tracker list edits... I'm sure there are others I'm not remembering. (And that's not even taking into account the recent experimental JavaScript integration.) And because they're not mutually exclusive, you can configure tags to perform JUST those actions (or a certain set of actions), and then apply whichever set of tags makes sense for any given torrent. Manually applying multiple tags to a group of torrents is a bit of a pain, as it requires multiple dives into the My Torrents context menu. But for a single torrent it's just a matter of checking a few boxes, either in the Open Torrent window or the Tags tab of the Details view.

And that's assuming you apply them manually at all. Now that RSSFeed Scanner has tag support, I just have my feeds configured with a comma-separated list of the appropriate tags, and they're applied automatically. So, in my setup:

• I have certain tags configured as "Categorization" tags, which do nothing but set a save path, and I use those in the interface (with their buttons visible) to filter my completed torrents list.
  
• Then I have a couple of "hidden" tags (in the sense that the filter buttons aren't enabled) for certain public feed providers, which use tracker list templates to make appropriate edits to the tracker list for torrents coming from those sites.
  
• Another hidden tag, for torrents from a certain private tracker, automatically raises the target seed ratio for those torrents, so they don't get auto-Queued at 2.000 (my global default) and I can continue to build my overall ratio on that site.
  
• And a hidden "autofile" tag for one particular feed sets completion moving on everything coming in on that feed, instead of leaving the files on the scratch disk where my torrents download to.
  

And like I said, for things coming in via RSS feed this is all done completely-automatically, manual assignment is only necessary for the few torrents that I otherwise load into Vuze. (Either magnet: links passed by the "BitTorrent WebUI+" Firefox extension, or torrent files downloaded into the synced Dropbox folder that I have configured for autoloading, since Vuze runs on a different machine than the one I browse on.)

It's funny, many of these tag features were born when parg was iterating a bunch on how tracker-template assignment would work in the Open Torrent dialog, until I ended up stepping in and saying, "Wait. People use the Open Torrent dialog? I only see it a few times a year!" That sent him off and running down the automation-features path. Which is how template assignment became a Tag feature, how RSSFeed Scanner ended up with tag support (and then multiple-tag support), and how the save-path logic got adjusted so that it could still be set (by applying a tag) even AFTER the torrent was already loaded, as long as it hadn't been started yet.

Which just illustrates the importance of giving feedback as features are developed. And also the importance of an attentive, involved development team that's willing to respond to that feedback, which is a rare thing. That's one of the biggest reasons I hope that Vuze development continues, and why this current "limbo" period is so worrying.

SRSLY, tho. Use tags! You'll never go back.

[FeRDNYC]

manual assignment is only necessary for the few torrents that I otherwise load into Vuze. (Either magnet: links passed by the "BitTorrent WebUI+" Firefox extension, or torrent files downloaded into the synced Dropbox folder that I have configured for autoloading, since Vuze runs on a different machine than the one I browse on.)
 

And just to demonstrate how powerful tags are, and how even I'm not yet making use of all that power: After I wrote this I went reading up on the Tag constraints feature, specifically its ability to auto-assign tags based on the contents of the torrent's tracker list, or the presence of other tags. So, now, I have the tag that identifies that private tracker I mentioned being auto-assigned based on the tracker hostname(s) that its torrents, and only its torrents, use. A second tag is also auto-applied, based on the application of that first tag. (I use that second tag for other torrents, too, which is why it's a separate tag.) So now, even when I manually download torrents from that private tracker, two out of the three tags I would normally assign manually will now get auto-assigned on loading. (The third is categorization, which can't be auto-determined reliably so I'll still have to manually set that.)

[kkariku]

I have experienced the Tags much superior to Categories. Categories is already obsolete & further development is not there.

[FeRDNYC]

So now, even when I manually download torrents from that private tracker, two out of the three tags I would normally assign manually will now get auto-assigned on loading. (The third is categorization, which can't be auto-determined reliably so I'll still have to manually set that.)
 

And thanks to another new feature I hadn't noticed/explored until now, that problem is solved as well. Since Vuze allows multiple import directories to be watched, and allows an "Assign to Tag" configuration per-directory, I just created subdirectories under my import location for the set of tags I'm likely to be downloading torrents for manually. As long as I drop the torrent file in the correct (Dropbox-synced) directory for its category, it will automatically be tagged accordingly when it's imported. So, voila. The only manual tagging I'll have to do is on magnet: links loaded manually, instead of from an RSS feed.

[Image: 5WplSrJ.png]

[LuvVuze]

I remain convinced that Vuze is on life support and seems to be in a vegetative state.  Numerous PM's and posts to Vuze staff go unanswered.

[FeRDNYC]

All signs certainly point in that direction. It's odd, though, just based on his interactions with the community over the years I wouldn't expect parg to just abandon the project completely, without at least some sort of notice or official statement, if he's able. If he's not able, I wish someone else involved in an official capacity would give us some sort of update, even if it's just "we have nothing to tell you at this time".

[LuvVuze]

I agree Ferd.  Parg has always acted honorably and responsively, with the utmost conscientiousness.

[vuze-dev]

Hey guys,
 
Vuze is still being actively supported and is not going anywhere.
 
We have been working on releasing a new version update (with a bit of a delay due to the summer season kicking in) and we will have it ready to go out soon.
 
Thank you,
The Vuze Development Team