Describe migration paths 2.9.2 <-> 3.8.2 <-> 4.3.1 <-> 5.0

[koppor]

JabRef changed the format of groups (and maybe more) during its releases. It should be written, what the differences in the bibtex files are and how on can go back and froth from 2.9.2, 3.8.2 (latest release in debian), 4.3.1 (latest published release), 5.0 alpha.

For instance, users report:

JabRef-2.9.2 loads on the 64-bit desktop but does not display the keyword
groups. It lacks the button to re-generate the groups that is found on
3.8.2.
Upgrading from 2.9.2 to 3.8.2 worked once. When I made a group change, saved the file, and tried re-start 3.8.2 it again failed.

Maybe, code of JabRef has to be adapted. Maybe, we need to update the 3.8.2 version (or even the 2.9.2 version).

Refs JabRef/jabref#1495

JabRef 3.8.1, 2.9.2 are used in the wild: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=895440#44

[Siedlerchr]

JabRef is not backwards compatible! And we lack resources to maintain other versions.
We could only describe changes from 4.x to 5.x.
We also have usually migrations in place. Going back to a previous version is risk of user.
IMHO the group format was the only major change in the bibtex layout?

[koppor]

IMHO the group format was the only major change in the bibtex layout?

We changed the formatting of the bibtex file multiple times. (align on = globally, locally, ...). A good start to follow the old discussions ist JabRef/jabref#1471

[koppor]

I would say, JabRef is backwards compatible (can read old .bib files), but not forward-compatible (old version cannot read bibtex files containing certain JabRef fields)

[koppor]

Issue to be investigated: No user info about changing bib-format in 4.0 · Issue #3251 · JabRef/jabref
JabRef/jabref#3251

[tobiasdiez]

I think this would have make sense for 4.3.1 <-> 5.0, but it's a bit late for this. Thus, I'll close this issue. We should have this in mind for the next releases though.

[koppor]

I reopen it, because Debian is still 3.8.2 with 2.000 installations.