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docs: v1.23.4 release notes (activity tracking) #44

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31 changes: 30 additions & 1 deletion CHANGELOG.md
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All notable changes to **Guidearr** since v1.18. Newest first.

> **Tagged public releases:** v1.20.0, v1.22.3, v1.22.5, v1.22.6, v1.22.7, v1.22.8, v1.22.9, v1.22.10, v1.22.11, v1.22.12, v1.22.13, v1.22.14, v1.23.0, v1.23.1, v1.23.2 and v1.23.3.
> **Tagged public releases:** v1.20.0, v1.22.3, v1.22.5, v1.22.6, v1.22.7, v1.22.8, v1.22.9, v1.22.10, v1.22.11, v1.22.12, v1.22.13, v1.22.14, v1.23.0, v1.23.1, v1.23.2, v1.23.3 and v1.23.4.
> Intermediate entries (1.21.0–1.22.2, 1.22.4) were development iterations rolled into the next tagged release.

---

## v1.23.4 — Browsing counts as activity · 2026-07-20

**Changed**
- **Simply using the dashboard now keeps your providers active.** The inactivity reaper introduced
in v1.23.0 only counted playlist *serves* and *edits*, so a user who logged in and looked around
without changing anything still drifted toward being disabled after 14 days. **Viewing now counts
too** — opening a playlist, opening a provider, or just loading the Playlists or Providers list
marks everything it shows as active. Viewing a provider that was already disabled for inactivity
**re-enables it on the spot**; providers disabled by repeated fetch failures or by an admin are
still left alone.
- **A provider with no playlist attached now behaves predictably.** It has no serve traffic to keep
it warm, so if nobody views or edits it for **14 days** it is disabled and stops being refreshed —
no more nightly downloads for a feed nobody is using. **Nothing is deleted**: its channel data,
settings and any playlists are kept, and opening it (or the Providers list) turns it straight back
on.
- **"Last activity" now means real user activity only.** Background work — the refresh worker, the
scheduler, and the URL/credential migrators added in v1.23.2–v1.23.3 — no longer marks a provider
as recently used. Previously an automatic maintenance task could make an abandoned provider look
active, so it was never reaped. The Maintenance page's activity columns are correspondingly more
honest.

**Note**
- Activity is recorded at most **once per hour per item**, so a dashboard left open doesn't
generate constant database writes.
- Playlists themselves are never disabled by inactivity — only providers stop refreshing, so your
playlist URLs keep serving throughout.

---

## v1.23.3 — Change your M3U URL without breaking your playlists · 2026-07-20

**Added**
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52 changes: 36 additions & 16 deletions RELEASE_NOTES.md
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# Guidearr v1.23.3 — Change your M3U URL without breaking your playlists
# Guidearr v1.23.4 — Browsing counts as activity

v1.23.2 made **Xtream** credential changes safe. This release does the same for **M3U** providers — and fixes a playlist ordering quirk.
v1.23.0 added an inactivity reaper: a provider nobody has used for **14 days** is disabled so
Guidearr stops downloading a feed nobody is watching. This release fixes what "used" means.

## Editing an M3U provider's URL is now safe
## Looking around now counts

Previously, pointing a provider at a new M3U link re-imported every channel under a new internal ID, which **orphaned every playlist** that referenced them (channels turned into *"(missing channel)"*).
Previously only *serving* a playlist or *editing* one marked things as active. If you logged in,
opened your playlist, checked a channel and logged out, none of that registered.

Now, saving a new M3U URL:
Now **viewing counts too**:

1. **Verifies the link is a real M3U**, then downloads it.
2. **Matches it against your current channels** by `tvg-id` (falling back to name + group) — so it still recognises the same provider even when it **rotates the stream URL of every channel**, as a renewed subscription link often does.
3. If **≥ 70%** still match, **rewrites the matched channel URLs in place** — each channel keeps its ID, so attached playlists keep working: **same order, same groups, same enabled/disabled selections** — then imports the rest of the list normally.
4. If too few match, it **stops and changes nothing** — the URL and your playlists are left exactly as they were.
- opening a playlist marks it — and every provider behind it — as active;
- opening a provider marks that provider;
- just loading the **Playlists** or **Providers** list marks everything it shows.

Progress is shown live in the update window. The threshold can be tuned with `M3U_URL_MATCH_THRESHOLD`.
And if you view a provider that had already been disabled for inactivity, it **turns back on
immediately** — no need to edit anything. Providers disabled by repeated fetch failures, or by an
admin, are still left alone.

## Guide XML URLs refresh immediately
## Providers with no playlist

Changing a **Guide XML (XMLTV)** URL now verifies it's a real XML guide and re-downloads it right away, instead of waiting for the next scheduled run.
A provider you added but never attached to a playlist has no serve traffic to keep it warm. If
nobody views or edits it for **14 days**, it is now disabled and stops refreshing — no more nightly
downloads for a feed nobody is using.

## Provider Type is locked once created
**Nothing is deleted.** Its channel data, settings and credentials are all kept. Open it — or just
load the Providers list — and it resumes on the next scheduled refresh.

A provider's **Type** can no longer be changed after it exists (previously only Xtream was locked) — switching it would strand that provider's channel/guide store.
## "Last activity" means *you*

## Fixed: playlist channel order now follows group order
Background jobs no longer count as activity. The refresh worker, the scheduler, and the URL /
credential migrators from v1.23.2–v1.23.3 used to be able to mark a provider as recently used, which
meant an abandoned provider could look busy forever and never be reaped. Only real user
activity — a view, an edit, or a playlist being served to your player — sets it now.

A freshly seeded playlist laid its **groups** out in the provider's group order but its **channel list** alphabetically by group title, so the two disagreed — the group pane might start with *"WORLD CUP"* while the channel list started with *"ARABIC"*. Channels now seed in group-pane order, and groups appended on a later refresh inherit the same ordering.
The **Maintenance** page's activity columns are correspondingly more honest about what has actually
been used.

## Good to know

- Activity is recorded at most **once per hour per item**, so a dashboard left open in a tab doesn't
generate constant database writes.
- **Playlists are never disabled** by inactivity — only provider refreshing stops, so your playlist
URLs keep serving throughout.
- Preview what would be disabled at any time:
`docker compose exec app php artisan providers:reap-cold --dry-run`

## Upgrade
```bash
cd /opt/Guidearr
git pull
docker compose exec app php artisan optimize:clear # refresh cached views/config
```
No migration and no frontend rebuild are required.

## License
Free for personal and non-profit use. Commercial use is prohibited. See `LICENSE`.
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