When is it necessary to rebuild the Database?

[iPodVT]

Is it recommended or necessary to rebuild the Database each time I install a new dev build of Rockbox?  Or maybe the need is specified somewhere within each individual release?

For that matter, does the same apply to the bootloader?  (I know this is not the correct forum for general bootloader questions, but in this case it seems natural to include it with my question above.)

Thanks.

[Frankenpod]

I think it depends on whether the newer dev build has changed anything about the working or structure of the database.  There was a time when a number of new dev builds in a row involved changes to the structure of it and invalidated the existing db files, but I don't _think_ that is always necessarily the case.
(It certainly was the case when they removed "album artist" field from the DB then put it back again)

You can probably make a guess looking at the patches list to see what's been merged recently - do any of them have anything DB specific?

Just my impression as an RB user who updates the version fairly often.  I presume others can give a more definitive answer.

[iPodVT]

Thanks for your reply.

I guess the safe thing to do is to always initialize (or update?) the DB after reinstalling the firmware - certainly if a lot of dev builds have been posted since the last time a user reinstalls.  Lately I've been following the code changes notes pretty closely on a daily basis, on both the website's front page and Daily Dev Builds page, but it's often/usually not at all clear to me exactly what the implications of those changes are.

[Bilgus]

I haven't rebuilt my database in several years
just update it when I put on more music

and I skipped that removal of album artist thankfully

[Bilgus]

we try to update bootloaders VERY infrequently as once verified they work we don't want to break anything and they just load the code into ram

so unless something is broken we don't touch them

[iPodVT]

Thanks for the clarifications re when to rebuild the db and when to reinstall the bootloader.