After downloading (but not installing) update, FileZilla keeps warning about data loss

[Stijn de Witt]

FileZilla just downloaded update 3.19.0-rc1 (2016-06-20).
This update has not yet been installed. It's just sitting there in my Downloads folder. However, ever since the download of the update, when I try to open the Site Manager, it gives me this very scary warning:

Detected newer version of FileZilla

The file 'C:\...\FileZilla\sitemanager.xml' has been created by a more recent version of FileZilla. Loading files created by newer versions can result in loss of data.
Do you want to continue?

First of all, we cannot copy-paste the error message, which sucks.
Second of all, the error message is obviously wrong. The newer version is only downloaded, not installed yet, so how on earth can we ever have used it to create a new sitemanager.xml??
Third, *why* would data loss ever ensue from *loading* a file?? Data loss normally happens when we save a file...

This error message is very scary, because it basically tells you:
Either press No and be unable to use FileZilla,
or press Yes and ignore this warning at your own peril...

Took me some time to gather the courage to just press Yes...

Now today it happened again and I'm pretty sure now that this dialog is actually just testing the presence of something silly (such as a folder existing, or reg key or whatever) and is not actually looking at which version is installed. Once I install the downloaded update, the error disappears..

Maybe save the version of FileZilla in the sitemanager.xml? And maybe just make reading/writing sitemanager.xml more robust? It's XML. There is no real reason it should ever go corrupt just because some flag was not saved or was saved but not recognized...

I'd say prio is high because this happens every time you guys push an update and it's giving a very scary warning message that talks of corrupted data...

[Tim Kosse]

Older versions do not understand the data written by newer versions. If you continue to use the Site Manager despite the warning, it'll discard any data it doesn't understand.

Technically the data loss happens when writing the data, though delaying the warning until that point is not user-friendly: By then the user has already made changes to the sites, so he would either lose the stored data or the changes he just made. A lose-lose situation. This is why the warning is already shown when opening the Site Manager.

There is only one scenario in which this dialog appears: The user has downgraded FileZilla. Downgrading is not a supported use-case. If you see the dialog it means that you have downgraded FileZilla. Note that the auto-update mechanism never ever downgrades, it lacks the capability to do so.

[Stijn de Witt]

There is only one scenario in which this dialog appears: The user has downgraded FileZilla.

Actually, for me, this dialog appears every time FileZilla has downloaded (but not yet installed) an update. I never (to my knowledge) downgraded FileZilla.