Zotero 5.0 is completely broken - Continued support for 4.0?

kostacalfas

Zotero 5.0 is broken, I think the plethora of comments about missing features, absent browser integrations, bugs formatting issue etc more than warrants the contention that, as a tool this latest iteration is, sadly, unuseable. I've had countless issues with it from it not recognizing documents made in 4.0, to losing links, to the browser freezing when I try to save a link to the library. Then there's the complete removal of the full firefox browser integration of 4.0. How is 5.0 which removes features actually an "upgrade?"

Using both Windows and Linux versions, the browser integration was seamless and always just worked. I'm hoping the Zotero team seriously considers doing a veritable "Windows 10" basically conceeding that this current iteration of the software is broken, keeping it as a kind of public beta, and continuing long term support for 4.0 while the issues with 5.0 are fixed.

Does anyone have insight about the roadmap for 4.0 support by the zotero team? Or at least if this is open source, any plans to fork the project to continue support for the superior earlier version?

mark

It may be useful to read the few most recent posts on the Zotero blog (e.g. this one), which answer most of your questions here. In particular, please note the inescapable reality that "long term support for 4.0" is simply an impossibility due to changes in the Firefox codebase that are beyond the control of the developers.

Saying that "Zotero 5.0 is broken" seems overly hyperbolic, and isn't likely to create a lot of goodwill among the volunteers sharing their time here. Also, don't forget the law that support forums primarily attract people in trouble and thereby make the huge majority of happy users invisible.

As you note yourself, since this project has been FOSS from the start, nothing will stop you from forking it and attempting to maintain an earlier version.

adamsmith

(as somene who reads all posts here, I don't think the experiences & number of comments wrt Z5 is particularly alarming or a sign of broken software, btw. There's some confusion about the missing Firefox add-on, which was to be expected and as mark points out, impossible to avoid, some problems with the Mac Word add-on, which predate Z5, but for the most part that's it)

andselisk

I wouldn't say Z5 is completely broken; yes, it's pretty much a downgrade here and there, many plugins are obsolete, it takes forever to start, search stuff and close, but it is STILL probably the best free option available which is sane for an average user and has a devteam which provides active support.

For myself I decided to bite a bullet for a while, hoping for the best and trying to help by posting suggestions and bug reports. At least it is a constructive criticism:)

dstillman

many plugins are obsolete, it takes forever to start, search stuff and close

As far as I know the most popular plugins other than BBT (which the developer is working on) are compatible, and those are of course outside of our control in any case. We're working on improving startup speed for larger libraries. Searching and closing speed shouldn't really be any different from 4.0, so if you're seeing that you should start a new thread and provide more details.

There were some bugs with the data directory migration in early 5.0 versions, but I believe those have all been resolved.

A few features from Zotero for Firefox aren't yet available in Zotero 5.0, and we're working on adding those back (but people have also been using Zotero Standalone without those features for 6 years).

For any other problems, we'd need concrete bug reports in separate threads.

(Also worth bearing in mind that, while there will be bugs to fix with any new major version, and, as Mark says, those will be disproportionately represented here, 5.0 was in beta for a year and has an immense new test suite to ensure stability, it fixes a wide range of issues from 4.0, and it contains a huge number of new features and improvements.)

takiefer

Zotero team,

Why did you automatically uninstall my Zotero for Firefox 4.0 add-on extension without my permission? I paid for and am continuing to pay for Zotero. I am fully aware of the technical issues and halted upgrades to Firefox at version 56.02 to preserve legacy extension compatibility. My workflow is paramount to me. There was no need to mess with my software, yet you traded out my existing add-in for the new unwanted Zotero Connector. Please make the final version of Zotero for Firefox 56 (Zotero add-in 4.0.23.29) available for download on your site. I doubt the foundations that support you want to be responsible for the damage to people's creative work and research done by unwanted hacking of subscriber systems. Nothing should be loaded or unloaded or upgraded or otherwise touched without consent.

adamsmith

a) you had set add-ons to automatically update in Firefox, otherwise Zotero wouldn't have updated
b) all previous Zotero versions are still available to download.

dstillman

@takiefer: Please don't waste everyone's time with this melodramatic nonsense. We didn't "hack" your system. We released a WebExtension in time for Firefox 57, like every other still-maintained Firefox extension, and you had auto-updates on. We've documented this extensively, in multiple blog posts, multiple tweets, countless forum threads, and a warning message in Zotero for Firefox itself. Zotero 4.0 for Firefox is still available from the download page.

Firefox 56 is no longer supported by Mozilla and isn't safe to use, so as we say in the FAQ, if you want to use Zotero for Firefox for a while longer, you should switch to Firefox 52 ESR, which is supported until June 2018, and disable extension updating for Zotero.

Zotero 4.0 syncing will stop in early 2018, and Zotero 4.0 is no longer supported here.

dstillman

Also somewhat amusing to note that upgrading everyone to Zotero 5.0 is what will allow us to finally fix syncing of embedded images in notes, which is the issue that takiefer last complained about (with some helpful insults mixed in).

And just so it's preserved for posterity, I'll also quote from an amended version of the above rant that takiefer tried to post as a separate thread:

(yes, tampering with others' IT systems without consent is criminal hacking-- See Federal Computer Fruad and Abuse Act, "Whoever having knowingly accessed a computer without authorization or exceeding authorized access . . .").

Closing this thread now.