Releases and downloads
Every Tilecast version is one release. It can hold the Server, Tilecast Edge, the Windows Player, and the Android Player, all built from the same code. A Beta may leave out the Windows Player. Download links, update files, and container images for a version all carry that version number.
Pick a channel
Section titled “Pick a channel”| Channel | Version example | Choose it when |
|---|---|---|
| Stable | 0.26.0 |
You run Tilecast for real screens. This is the recommended channel. |
| Beta | 0.26.0-beta.1 |
You want to test the next Stable release before it ships. |
| Development | 0.0.0-dev |
You build from main to try new work. It can change or break at any time. |
A Beta is a preview of the next Stable version. 0.26.0-beta.1 and 0.26.0-beta.2 come before 0.26.0. A screen on a Beta updates to the next Beta or to Stable. A screen on Stable updates to the next Stable release, or to a Beta if you deploy one.
Tilecast is still before version 1.0. Stable means stable compared with Development. It isn’t a claim of long-term support.
Development isn’t a release. It has no download page, and no GitHub release is created for it.
Where each download lives
Section titled “Where each download lives”Tilecast uses three places, and each has one job.
| Place | Holds | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub Releases | The Edge archives, Windows packages, Android APK, signed update files, checksums, and the notes | Installing a Player and updating screens |
| GitHub Packages (GHCR) | The Server container image | Installing or updating Tilecast Server |
| GitHub Actions artifacts | Temporary build output that passes between the steps of a release | Nothing. They aren’t releases. Don’t install from them. |
Only a published GitHub release is a release. Once published, its files never change.
What you download for each platform
Section titled “What you download for each platform”| Platform | Where | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Tilecast Server | GitHub Packages | ghcr.io/gbyo/tilecast-server:<version>, plus the moving tags stable and beta |
| Browser Player | Inside the Server | Nothing separate. It’s the same version as the Server. |
| Tilecast Edge (Linux) | GitHub Releases | One .tar.zst for x86_64 and one for aarch64 |
| Windows Player | GitHub Releases | One .msix for x64 and one for ARM64 |
| Android TV, Google TV, Fire TV | GitHub Releases | tilecast-player.apk |
| iOS and iPadOS | Apple’s App Store | Not a GitHub download. Its availability follows Apple’s review. |
The Android file is always named tilecast-player.apk. The Edge and Windows files carry the version in their names.
The notes of each release list every platform in groups and say which ones the release doesn’t include. A Beta may leave out the Windows Player. A Stable release always has every platform. If a platform is missing, the notes say why.
Server images
Section titled “Server images”TILECAST_VERSION in deploy/docker/.env picks the Server version:
stablefollows the newest Stable release.betafollows the newest release of either kind, so it moves to Stable when Stable catches up.- A version such as
0.26.0stays on that release until you change it.
The tag latest is a compatibility name for stable. Don’t set TILECAST_VERSION=development on a production install. See Update Tilecast Server.
How updates reach your screens
Section titled “How updates reach your screens”You install a Player once. After that, Tilecast Server reads the signed update files from the same GitHub release, and you deploy them from Settings > Player updates. Players download from your server, never from GitHub. See Update Tilecast Player.
One release can hold an Android update, two Edge updates, and two Windows updates. Studio imports each one on its own. If one update file fails verification, the others still import, and Studio shows the reason.
Studio checks every update before you can deploy it. It checks the signature, the file’s size and hash, and that the version, channel, and platform in the signed file match the release.
Check a download
Section titled “Check a download”Each release has a SHA256SUMS file. Download it beside the files you want, then compare:
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missingtilecast-release.json is a machine-readable list of everything in the release.
If you already run an older release
Section titled “If you already run an older release”Releases published before this scheme stay where they are, and their download links keep working. Studio still imports them.
- Android and Linux Players keep updating. Every new version is newer than every old one.
- Edge screens that run
0.2.1or older can’t install a release from the new scheme directly. They check the old version rule and refuse it, and keep running. Update them to the Edge bridge release (0.2.2) first, then to a unified release. Edge0.2.2or later needs no bridge. - Server installs that used
latestkeep working.latestmoves to the first Stable release.
A hotfix for one platform doesn’t rebuild the others. The notes of that release link to the earlier release that built each unchanged platform, and say “carried forward”. Those platforms keep their earlier version, so Studio shows no new update for them. A carried-forward Server image has no tag of the new version: pull stable or the earlier version tag.
New releases are named v0.26.0 or v0.26.0-beta.1. Older names such as player-v0.25.0 and edge-v0.2.1-preview.1 belong to the releases that came before.