Best way to get latest updates

[spyder0069]

I'm a bit confused on the best way to stay up to date. The instructions show to use the .json paths in arduino:

Stable release link: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espre ... index.json
Development release link: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espre ... index.json

On the github page the latest development release still shows 1.0.4 same as stable release. If you put the dev .json in at this point are you actually getting the same files or are your getting the latest from github with all the updates?

By putting those json files in arduino when does it check for new updates? Does it ever pull down new files on its own or do you have to go to the board manager manually and do the update?

Does this older method of update using Git still work?
https://github.com/espressif/arduino-es ... windows.md

When you run the Git are you getting the latest updated files? Is there any reason not to use this method?

I just see many updates since the last oct 2019 1.0.4 release and want to make sure I am up to date.

Appreciate any advice. :^)

[lbernstone]

The stable json link is for fully vetted releases. The development json link is for release candidates. You can see these versions on the github releases page. The github repo has the very latest commits, including some which may break working applications.