Checking for Software Update

In most cases, the Autocrawler Java control software can be updated via the remote web browser interface. To check for updated software, go to:

MENU > server > check for software update

Click ‘OK’ to download the new package, and ‘OK’ again to restart with the new version. (The system downloads the update from https://www.xaxxon.com/downloads, and will run a script to update the ROS packages from git if required)

If this doesn’t work, the package can be manually updated via the instructions below.

Manual Update

Manually updating the software requires deleting the old package and downloading the new one. Before deleting the old package, you’ll want to backup your system configuration and calibration settings.

BACKUP EXISTING CONFIGURATION:
Connect to Autocrawler via ssh and enter

$ cp ~/autocrawler/conf/autocrawler_settings.txt ~/Desktop/

(Modify the target path if Desktop doesn’t suit you.)

If you have navigation waypoints and routes set up, you can back those up by doing:

$ cp ~/autocrawler/conf/waypoints.txt ~/Desktop/
$ cp ~/autocrawler/conf/navigationroutes.xml ~/Desktop/

Save navigation log information by copying the log folder:

$ cp -r ~/autocrawler/webapps/autocrawler/navigationlog ~/Desktop/

If you have any framegrabs, streams, or rss entries saved, back those up as well by doing:

$ cp -r ~/autocrawler/webapps/autocrawler/framegrabs ~/Desktop/
$ cp -r ~/autocrawler/webapps/autocrawler/streams ~/Desktop/
cp ~/autocrawler/webapps/autocrawler/rss.xml ~/Desktop/

DELETE THE OLD PACKAGE:
Now its safe to delete the old package:

$ rm -rf ~/autocrawler

DOWNLOAD THE NEW PACKAGE:
Download the new Autocrawler Java package from xaxxon downloads. When you unpack it, you’ll get the ‘autocrawler’ folder.

Move the files and folders you backed up into their previous locations.

UPDATE LIBRARIES:
Make sure you’ve upgraded any required libraries. Do:

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt upgrade

UPDATE ROS WORKSPACE PACKAGES
Finally, make sure you’re running the latest source-compiled ROS packages. See initial ROS workspace package install instructions here and do a corresponding git pull [origin] [branch] command in each package folder under ~/catkin_ws/src, then recompile.