AC9KH
Member
JS8Call-improved 2.4.0 is available and we have about 600 users running this version
js8call-improved.com
History:
Basically, development of the original js8call project stalled, as Jordan no longer has time to maintain it. Actually, development stalled after version 2.2.0 and after 4 years 2.3.1 was only made possible by a group of developers (myself included) that took the old codebase, ported the old Fortran code to C++, ported it to Qt6 and brought it back to life.
Things were looking good for awhile and then development stalled again with PR's piling up on the main branch and nobody maintaining it. With our main development branch not up-to-date a development team can't develop.
In the mean time I had been maintaining a rc/ branch on my personal repository that was a summary roundup of all development work that never gets merged to js8call main. So I formed the JS8Call-improved organization, all the developers came over there and we are now moving ahead with development again. The JS8Call-improved idea was modeled after WSJT-x-improved, which had the same problem with WSJT-x.
At first it was hoped js8call main could be brought up-to-date with development. I even submitted a PR for that to the js8call main branch. Crickets. Never gets merged. JS8Call-improved is now so far ahead of the original js8call that the original can be pretty much assumed to be an abandon project. JS8Call-improved was formed, not as a downstream fork of js8call, but as a standalone that will eventually become upstream for packaging in linux distributions, etc..
Binaries are available for Mac and Windows. I am a Mac/iOS developer so the Mac builds are code-signed and notarized by Apple. We do not have a Windows developer with proper code signing credentials for Windows 11. If anybody knows one who would be interested in working on an open-source ham radio project, send him/her our way - they will be welcomed to the team. Even so, a Windows build is available, it's just not code-signed.
Builds for linux are currently not available due to fragmentation in linux distributions, and no standards for library versions, etc.. So we developed automated build scripts that will fetch source code and libraries on linux, build and install the program from source code. With the move to Qt 6.9.3 to support modern standards, and no linux distributions package that Qt version, similar to wfview this was the workaround for linux for 2.4.0. We have plenty of linux guys on the team, linux AppImage builds should be available for the next release. But they have been a challenge for linux due to linux distributions packaging out-of-date Qt libraries, and the code is developed on Mac, coded for Qt 6.9.3.
Modern HF Digital Communication
An enhanced, community-driven evolution of JS8Call for modern HF digital communication.
History:
Basically, development of the original js8call project stalled, as Jordan no longer has time to maintain it. Actually, development stalled after version 2.2.0 and after 4 years 2.3.1 was only made possible by a group of developers (myself included) that took the old codebase, ported the old Fortran code to C++, ported it to Qt6 and brought it back to life.
Things were looking good for awhile and then development stalled again with PR's piling up on the main branch and nobody maintaining it. With our main development branch not up-to-date a development team can't develop.
In the mean time I had been maintaining a rc/ branch on my personal repository that was a summary roundup of all development work that never gets merged to js8call main. So I formed the JS8Call-improved organization, all the developers came over there and we are now moving ahead with development again. The JS8Call-improved idea was modeled after WSJT-x-improved, which had the same problem with WSJT-x.
At first it was hoped js8call main could be brought up-to-date with development. I even submitted a PR for that to the js8call main branch. Crickets. Never gets merged. JS8Call-improved is now so far ahead of the original js8call that the original can be pretty much assumed to be an abandon project. JS8Call-improved was formed, not as a downstream fork of js8call, but as a standalone that will eventually become upstream for packaging in linux distributions, etc..
Binaries are available for Mac and Windows. I am a Mac/iOS developer so the Mac builds are code-signed and notarized by Apple. We do not have a Windows developer with proper code signing credentials for Windows 11. If anybody knows one who would be interested in working on an open-source ham radio project, send him/her our way - they will be welcomed to the team. Even so, a Windows build is available, it's just not code-signed.
Builds for linux are currently not available due to fragmentation in linux distributions, and no standards for library versions, etc.. So we developed automated build scripts that will fetch source code and libraries on linux, build and install the program from source code. With the move to Qt 6.9.3 to support modern standards, and no linux distributions package that Qt version, similar to wfview this was the workaround for linux for 2.4.0. We have plenty of linux guys on the team, linux AppImage builds should be available for the next release. But they have been a challenge for linux due to linux distributions packaging out-of-date Qt libraries, and the code is developed on Mac, coded for Qt 6.9.3.
