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Linger v0.4.7

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@github-actions github-actions released this 03 Oct 21:58
v0.4.7
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Linger 0.4.7: headsets and voice messages

Gaming headsets on Windows now work in voice: no more joining and not being
heard. You can record a voice message in any conversation, hear it back, and
send it or throw it away. And a few things got easier to notice: still being
away, which picture you're about to send, and where Linger went when you
closed its list.

Hosts: update the server so people can send voice messages. There's no
database change and no new setting. 0.4.7 apps work with a 0.4.6 server,
except that a voice message can't be sent until the server is updated.
0.4.6 apps work with a 0.4.7 server, and play voice messages as ordinary
audio files.
For hosts has the steps.

Everyone: update the app. The headset fix is in the app, so it reaches
you when you update, whatever your server runs.

The highlights

  • Gaming headsets work in voice on Windows (#398). A Logitech PRO X 2 set
    to 7.1 surround couldn't join voice at all, and a SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5
    joined but nobody could hear it. Linger now opens every microphone and
    speaker in the format it already runs in, and turns that into voice itself.
    If you set your headset to "Stereo, 16 bit, 48000 Hz" in Control Panel to
    get around this, you can set it back.
  • Voice messages (#401). Press the microphone beside + in the message
    box, then Record and Stop. Listen back, then Send voice message
    or Discard. Up to five minutes.
  • Still being away is hard to miss (#392). While you're away, the top of
    your list turns a warm cream with a filled I'm back, and when you come
    back to your computer, it says "Welcome back. You're still away."

Voice

  • Headsets in their own format (#398). On Windows, Linger used to ask every
    headset for 16-bit stereo sound at 48 kHz, and some refused: surround-sound
    headsets, 24-bit ones, and ones running through SteelSeries Sonar. Now it
    takes whatever the headset gives. Nothing changes on Linux or for
    headsets that already worked.
  • Voice messages (#401).
    • Record and Stop are presses, never a hold, so you can let go of the mouse
      while you talk. Lines move with your voice, and the time counts up.
    • Stopping never sends anything. You hear it back first.
    • At five minutes it stops by itself and keeps what you have.
    • It records from the microphone picked in Settings → Sound & Voice, or your
      computer's default.
    • In the conversation it shows as Voice message with a play button and
      its length, and it plays on Windows and Linux alike.
    • Voice rooms are still never recorded. A voice message is a clip you
      record of yourself and choose to send, like sharing an audio file.
    • The desktop app records them. The phone app will later.
  • Why voice didn't start, in full (#399). When voice fails to start, the
    short reason above the conversation is now a button. Click it and the whole
    reason opens and stays open, including your computer's own words for what
    failed, with a Copy button for sending it to your host.

Your status

  • Away looks like away (#392). While you're away:
    • Your card at the top of the list is tinted a warm cream, not the amber of
      something new.
    • Your away message sits in a box with the moon, where your status was.
    • I'm back is filled in the same cream.
    • Settings → Profile's "You're away" box matches.
  • Coming back says so (#392). When you come back to your computer after
    ten minutes or more and you're still away, the card says "Welcome back.
    You're still away." I'm back is right there, or ✕ to stay away.
    Linger never sets you back by itself.

Sharing files

  • A picture shows a small preview before you send it (#397). A phone
    photo is called something like 9D836261-01DD-….jpg, so the name alone
    didn't say which one you'd picked. Now a picture's line above the box starts
    with a small square of it, made on your computer. Other files keep the file
    icon.

Closing the list

  • Linger says where it went (#400). Closing the list keeps Linger running
    in the tray, with voice, as before. The first time you do it on a computer,
    a notification says Linger is still running, where its icon is, and that
    you're still in voice if you are. It says it once, and never again.
  • On Windows 11 the tray icon starts out hidden under the ^ by the
    clock. Windows doesn't let an app show its own icon, but you can: Settings →
    Personalization → Taskbar → Other system tray icons → Linger. The
    user guide has this too.

Under the hood

  • Two browser tests that failed at random on a busy machine are steady
    (#394, #396). This changes only the checks.

Known issues

  • On Hyprland (Omarchy included), the mouse pointer jumps into a
    conversation that opens in a window of its own     (popped out, or with
    Each in its own window). Conversations beside the list don't do this.
    It's Hyprland's behaviour when an app brings a window forward, and the
    user guide has the two lines that turn it
    off.
  • The AppImage doesn't play AV1 videos, which some NVIDIA and OBS game
    recordings and Pixel 10 phones make. Its own video decoders cover H.264 and
    H.265, which almost every phone and recorder uses (#358). Windows and the
    Arch, .deb and .rpm packages play AV1.

For hosts: updating the server

Server image: ghcr.io/itsmattguenther/linger:0.4.7 (x86-64 only), also
tagged latest.

What changes for you:

  • Voice messages are accepted (#401). They're ordinary audio files, about
    half a megabyte a minute, and count against your storage limit like any
    other file. The server doesn't convert them, so there's nothing to install.
  • No database change and no new setting. The image is still x86-64 only.
    ARM servers stay on 0.4.4.
  • Nothing else about voice changes on the server. The headset fix is in
    the app.

Run these on the server, one block at a time.

1. Go to the folder with your compose.yaml (the linger folder from
setup):

cd ~/linger

2. Update:

./update.sh

(Use sudo ./update.sh if you type sudo before docker commands. No
update.sh in the folder? The 0.4.5 notes
show how to get it.) It downloads 0.4.7 while the server keeps running, stops
it for a few seconds to save the database into backups/, starts everything
again, and prints the version before and after.

3. Check it worked:

curl -f https://linger.example.com/api/v1/health

With your own address in place of linger.example.com, it should print
{"ok":true,"version":"0.4.7"}.

If something goes wrong, update.sh prints the commands that put 0.4.6
back. With no database change, going back is safe. Voice messages sent in the
meantime stay, but a 0.4.6 server offers them as downloads instead of
playing them, until you update again.

Download the app

Install the app on your own computer. Hosts run the separate server image.

Your computer Download
Windows Linger_0.4.7_x64-setup.exe
Omarchy or Arch Nothing to download: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/itsMattGuenther/Linger/main/packaging/arch/setup.sh | bash once, then update with your system
Ubuntu, Debian or Mint Linger_0.4.7_amd64.deb
Fedora or openSUSE Linger-0.4.7-1.x86_64.rpm
Other Linux Linger_0.4.7_amd64.AppImage

The .msi is an alternative Windows installer. The app uses .sig files and
latest.json for updates; you do not need to download them yourself. macOS and
ARM desktop installers are not available. Windows installers are updater-signed,
not Authenticode-signed, so SmartScreen may warn: Run anyway is behind More
info. See the
user guide
for installation and troubleshooting.

Updating the app

Choose Update… at the foot of your list, or open Settings → Account & App →
Updates, or close Linger and install the new download. You stay signed in.
Windows users should keep the same installer format (.exe or .msi). On
Omarchy or Arch, the package updates with your system.

Linux, with a .deb or .rpm you updated from inside the app: add the
video decoders once, then restart Linger.

  • Debian and Ubuntu: sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-libav
  • Fedora: sudo dnf install gstreamer1-plugin-libav

Hosts: see For hosts above.

Checks on installed clients

Record OS, package type, previous and new version, and headset or microphone
with any failure. Use made-up messages, and keep private conversations out of
screenshots.

  1. Windows, with a gaming headset (a Logitech PRO X 2 in 7.1, a
    SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5, or SteelSeries Sonar on): join voice. Your name
    lights up when you talk, others hear you, and you hear them (#398).
  2. Windows, a headset set to Stereo, 16 bit, 48000 Hz that already
    worked: it still does (#398).
  3. After the host updates the server: record a voice message, stop, play
    it back, and send it. A friend on Windows and one on Linux both play it.
    Discard one instead: nothing is sent (#401).
  4. Close the list with ✕ for the first time on a computer: a notification says
    where Linger went, and mentions voice if you're in it. Close it again:
    nothing (#400).
  5. Press Away: your card turns cream with a filled I'm back. Leave the
    computer for over ten minutes, then move the mouse over Linger: "Welcome
    back. You're still away." (#392).
  6. Attach a phone photo: a small preview shows above the box (#397).
  7. Windows, with the microphone privacy switch off: try to join voice,
    click the reason, and Copy it (#399).
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