Mention Support-Scope of Docs (and Jellyfin Clients)

[Slater91]

This issue respects the following points:

• This issue is not already reported on GitHub (I've searched it).
• I agree to follow Jellyfin's Code of Conduct.
• This report addresses only a single issue; If you encounter multiple issues, kindly create separate reports for each one.

Describe the incorrect documentation

The documentation at https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/administration/backup-and-restore/ mentions that there is a built-in backup system. This was, however, only introduced in 10.11, which is not mentioned in the page.

The following sentence makes no sense in the way it is worded:

"However in 10.11 we still recommend performing the backup process during a time of low activity and while no scan is currently active."

This suggests that something has changed regarding to backups in 10.11, whereas that was the version where backups were introduced.

suggestion

Users who still use older versions, like myself, will expect to find information which is relevant. Failing to mention that backups are only available from 10.11 onwards is misleading. My suggestion is to correct the page as follows:

Jellyfin's built-in backup system, introduced in version 10.11, is able to create a backup while your system is online and running, as opposed to the manual process that requires you to stop Jellyfin beforehand. We still recommend performing the backup process during a time of low activity and while no scan is currently active.

Other sources

No response

[BotBlake]

Hi there, thanks for opening the issue.

The requested information is already covered by the page.

The documentation describes both available backup methods: the built-in backup system and the manual backup process. Users running a version without the built-in system can follow the manual backup instructions provided directly below it.

The sentence

However in 10.11 we still recommend performing the backup process during a time of low activity and while no scan is currently active.

does not suggest that the built-in backup system existed before 10.11. “However” contrasts the ability to create a backup while Jellyfin is running with the recommendation to avoid creating one during periods of high activity or an active scan.

Our documentation targets the current version of Jellyfin and generally does not include release-history notes stating when every individual feature was introduced. Adding “introduced in version 10.11” would therefore not provide any information required to follow the documented procedures.

Kind regards

[Slater91]

I suggest disabling this bot as it is entirely unhelpful, obtuse and very irritating. The requested information is not covered in the page, which does not mention which version introduces the backup system. A user on a previous version reading the documentation legitimately expect to find a backup section which simply does not exist. There are multiple messages online of people looking for the feature and not finding it (see here as an example), so mentioning the minimum version would indeed be helpful.

I maintain that the mention of version 10.11 in that sentence makes no sense (would that recommendation not be valid in 10.12, 10.13 or 11 or any other future version?).

[BotBlake]

@Slater91 I am not a bot.
I suggest you check out my profile before you insult me...

[Slater91]

My most sincere apologies. These days it's harder than ever to tell people from bots, and the "bot" in the name misled me - not an excuse, but an explanation. I am sincerely sorry and mortified.

[BotBlake]

You are good, mistakes can happen. I would personally advise against automatically disregarding something simply because it may have been written by a bot.

As previously mentioned, we generally try to avoid mentioning version numbers in documentation for new features. Your issue even prompted me to remove the only remaining reference to 10.11 on that page:

#1974

We mostly avoid this because such information does not age well. We would need to remember to remove these notes after a few years, otherwise they would gradually clutter the documentation. This is especially true for a section like this one, where the backup process itself may change between versions.

If you are running an older version of Jellyfin, the current documentation may not fully apply to you, and you may need to update to a newer version. This is not something we can reasonably address within the current documentation.

I hope this helps bring us more onto the same page regarding the issue.

Kind regards

[Slater91]

Thank you, I appreciate it. I do not automatically disregard what bots say and I did not automatically disregard what you said, but I did find it unhelpful. However, I somehow missed the part where you said that documentation only applies to the latest version, which is what ultimately led to my message. Again, my apologies.

I understand your position. However, there is no indication anywhere (that I could find) that the documentation only applies to the latest version. After many years working with documentation from both open and non-open software, I personally expect this sort of information/warning to be clearly reported. If I do not see a version being mentioned, I expect that what is written applies to all versions, unless there is an explicit mention that it works otherwise. I work with enterprise software and I've never seen documentation that does not mention versions, so maybe I am biased in that way in how things should work, however, this ensures that no confusion like this can arise.

Maybe it would be helpful to indicate that documentation only applies to the latest version somewhere, either in the sidebar (mentioning the latest version so that it's visible throughout all pages in the documentation, which I think would be the best case) or somewhere like the introduction. As an example, here is a quick-and-dirty mockup:

Here is an example of text for the introduction page:

Note: Jellyfin is a fast-moving project that is in its early stages, and this documentation as well as the code may change frequently. This documentation only applies to the latest stable release of Jellyfin and may contain information which does not apply to previous versions. Please check back often and do not hesitate to contact us via our Matrix channels or Forum!

(or something like that)

I hope this can be helpful.