PrusaSlicer 2.2.0 Hits Release Candidate Status, Brings a "Breaking Change" in Profile Handling

Josef Prusa's Prusa3D has officially launched the release candidate for PrusaSlicer 2.2.0, the latest version of the slicing tool for 3D printers — and it brings with it a breaking change in how profiles are handled.

As with its predecessors, PrusaSlicer is designed to take 3D models in a range of formats and convert them into either G-code or PNG layers for use with 3D printers. As well as supporting Prusa3D's own printer range, the tool works with any 3D printer based on the RepRap toolchain as well as Mach3, LinuxCNC, and Machinekit controllers. The impending 2.2.0 release, however, includes a change that may need extra attention from anyone looking to upgrade.

"In the PrusaSlicer 2.2.0 series we made a breaking change in handling compatibility between vendor profiles, vendor derived user profiles and user profiles (derived from the '-- default --' profile)," Prusa3D's Lukas Matena explains, a decision taken to clearly separate the responsibilities of Prusa3D and third-party contributors. "Starting with PrusaSlicer 2.2.0, system profiles of one vendor and user profiles derived from a system profile of the same vendor are suppressed if a Print profile of different vendor or a user Print profile (derived from the '-- default --' profile) is selected.

"When the Printer profile derived from the Prusa3D system profile was active or a system Prusa3D profile was active, and when the Print profile with the removed 'inherits' field was active (or any other profile derived from the '-- default --' profile was active), then the filament selector offered just the profiles with the removed 'inherits' field (or any other profile derived from the '-- default--') profile. This behaviour has been now changed, so that in this scenario the Filament selector will offer the Prusa3D vendor profiles compatible with the active Print and Printer profile as well as the user profiles."

Those changes are particularly important now the 2.2.0 release has reached release candidate status: Unlike prior betas, the 2.2.0-rc release now saves all profiles into the PrusaSlicer directory — the same directory used by non-beta and non-RC builds.

Full details of the 2.2.0-rc release, along with a link to download it in binary and source code forms for Windows, macOS, and Linux, can be found on the Prusa3D GitHub repository.