kahst
Is there an easy way to access previous model versions with the fully packaged option for Windows?
Hi there,
I'm working amid IT restrictions that make accessing this technology difficult, so please pardon any related oversights on my end.
I'm trying to help myself and colleagues regain access to the fully packaged "as is" Windows version. We have now identified a solution that at least allows us to use this solution via the command prompt Usage (CLI) instructions, although the GUI.exe is still blocked.
What I'm confused about now is how to successfully access previous model versions. For example, we have colleagues who have processed many terabytes of data through V2.3 and completed verifications/threshold selection processes, so we don't want to switch to V2.4 now and start all over with verification and threshold selection. I tried downloading the V2.4 "fully packaged" version and then replacing the checkpoints and labels folders with those from the a V2.3 version I had, but this didn't work. I also downloaded the V2.3 version available in model version history, but I've bungled something along the way and can't get this to work via "fully packaged" command prompt route. Error messages indicate that my manual attempt to point to an earlier version is not successful. Is there a straightforward way to download a fully packaged Windows version for earlier BirdNET model versions, and if not, do you have any guidance on which items/folders could be replaced manually in order to access previous versions?
(I personally also have a workaround of running things via WSL Ubuntu and it is easy for me to point to different BirdNET model versions for different projects ("for more advanced use cases"). However, accessing different BirdNET models feels trickier with the packaged version. If there is a solution that doesn't involve me having to write up a how-to guide for WSL Ubuntu and have colleagues walk through multiple IT tickets to access that workaround, that would be amazing!)
Thank you for any insights!
The download via model version history should still work. There is currently no built-in way to switch model versions. What error did you get when using the previous packaged Win version?
Hi @Josef-Haupt,
I don't have a V2.3 fully packaged version to test, and am not sure where to find one. It looks like the one available in model version history is not the fully packaged version, unless I'm misunderstanding (I have downloaded it and looked around, there is no BirdNET-Analyzer.exe in that folder and the file structure looks a lot different from the V2.4 fully packaged, run "as is" version). What am I missing? Is there a way to download a "fully packaged version" for V2.3 or other previous fully packaged versions for Windows?
As it stands currently there is no way to switch, but we will move all the models to a different repo in the future.
Thank you for replying! BirdNET seems to be becoming more widely adopted. If new releases include new models (e.g., V2.5 someday), there are going to be end users who have already put verification and calibration effort into long-term monitoring projects for previous models (e.g. V2.4). I imagine this could become even more true as users adopt the new Review tab in v1.3.0 (such an exciting feature). A way to point to previous models might be most welcome, allowing users to retain existing model calibration efforts while accessing whatever new features and support come out in future releases. I'm speaking from the perspective of a Windows user who uses a mix of CLI + GUI, under heavy admin restrictions. As a practitioner, just wanted to offer that idea for your consideration. Thank you for your work!
I believe there might even be a workaround. Since the training procedure lets people export Raven models and then use these as custom classifier, it should be possible to load previous model versions as Raven model through the custom classifier selection. We do preserve older model versions, and they all come with a Raven model file, so maybe that's the most convenient way (for now). In the future, as Josef mentioned, models will live in a separate repo, and we can then "just" build in a switch to allow people to choose their preferred model version.
