Q about integration with SPM8

[Vladimir Litvak]

Dear John,

On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 6:03 PM, John Iversen <iversen at nsi.edu> wrote:

> Since SPM8 comes with its own version of fieldtrip, how will this be
> kept 'in sync' with the updates coming out of Donders?

This is done automatically presently on a daily basis, perhaps will be
switched to a weekly update after the official release of SPM8.
Critical updates are propagated immediately.  So if you update SPM8,
the version of FT in SPM8 will be from the same date.

>Having two different
> versions of fieldtrip seems like a potential headache.

This is exactly what the wrappers are for. You can have your favorite
FT version in the path with SPM but there will be no clashes as SPM
will only use its internal version of FT. The same is true for your FT
scripts -  unless you explicitly call the wrappers with 'ft_...' your
FT functions will come from your stand-alone FT installation and not
from SPM.


>To avoid this issue,
> I was planning to have SPM8 use my existing Fieldtrip installation
> exclusively. Is there is any downside to this?

Yes because there is no guarantee that your particular FT version is
compatible with your SPM version (unless you keep updating both which
is redundant).

The best way for you to work if you already have an FT version that
works for you and don't want to update it for a while is to ignore the
FT version that SPM uses and pretend it's not there. Wrappers will
prevent any clashes as I explained.

I hope my explanations are clear. If not, I'd be glad to answer any
further questions.

Best,

Vladimir

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