Backward compatibility and updates

Question

The current plan is for bi-annual updates (hard forks) "for the forseeable future". What is the policy or plan for:

1. Backward compatibility for existing daemons and wallet versions? For how long will previous versions be supported after a new release?
2. Introducing auto-updating software, or end-user notification of new versions being available?

Can users rely on their software being up-to-date without having to keep checking the reddit or github sites? Is the current policy documented anywhere?

Answer 1

Backward compatibility will be attempted for at least a couple versions. Some breakage is unavoidable, however. Push comes to shove, you've got your private keys and you should always be able to use them with any future version of the software.

Auto update is not done, but the daemon checks for updates and tells you when a new update is available. It can download it and check hashes, but you will have to unarchive it manually for now.