Fallback for non-working Fiji Updater

[dscho]

Hi,

There have been a couple of hiccups lately with the Fiji Updater. I am
very sorry for that, and had hoped things would go more smoothly. The
problems were mainly due to the Updater moving from Fiji to ImageJ2; if
Fiji had already had the infrastructure of ImageJ2 (i.e., automated
automated regression testing), the problems would have been caught
earlier, and without much public notice.

For all who still have problems, the easiest solution is to download a
fresh version of Fiji from the Downloads page (http://fiji.sc/Downloads).

If you would like to repair your existing Fiji installation, you can do so
by importing the following URL with File>Import>URL...:

https://raw.github.com/fiji/fiji/master/plugins/Scripts/Plugins/Utilities/Fix_Updater.js

This Javascript ignores every local file and uses the updater from
ImageJ2's update site.

So why the move to ImageJ2?

First of all, ImageJ, Fiji and ImageJ2 are not competitors: we all work
together closely.

The goal of ImageJ2 is to provide a robust framework that is flexible
enough to allow execution in the cloud or even within other software,
retaining backwards compatibility as well as possible through a legacy
layer. So it is quite natural that Fiji is slated to be based on ImageJ2
once its code base stabilizes enough for everyday scientific image
analysis.

It is also natural to define the respective roles of Fiji and ImageJ2 more
clearly: ImageJ2 is the stable core for any type of image processing,
while Fiji is a distribution including many plugins mainly targeting the
life sciences.

Hence the move of the updater, the script editor and other Fiji components
that are only indirectly related to life sciences.

Another consequence is the shift from the ad-hoc Fiji Build system to the
industry standard called Maven. Relying on such standards liberates
resources and time to work more focusedly on scientific image analysis,
and makes it easier for others to contribute to the project.

My hope is that these changes do not cause too many inconveniences, and I
will try my best to fix whatever problems arise in the future.

Ciao,
Johannes

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