Regarding the version

[God-damnit-all]

Now that the x.dev branch seems to be in full working order, will the version of less that you're using change, or is there a particular reason to go with version 563 in particular?

Current stable is 590 and the current beta is 608.

[rivy]

As you noted, I've just finished implementing some build/CI tooling improvements (over several repositories).

I hadn't followed the upstream changes for a while since, for me, with v563, it has settled into a stable fully-usable form. But I'm happy to merge the changes when I get some more time to look at them.

[God-damnit-all]

@rivy Thanks for looking into it. And, apparently 608 just came out 5 days ago.

If it's helpful, I've compiled the release notes of the changes since 563, maybe you'll find something you like:

---

v563 → v581:

Change ESC-u command to toggle, not disable, highlighting per man page.
Add ESC-U command.
Add ctrl-W search modifier for wrapping search.
F command can be interrupted by ^X.
Support OSC 8 hyperlinks when -R is in effect.
g command with no number will ignore -j and put first line at top of screen.
Multiple + or -p command line options are handled better.
Add the --incsearch option.
Add the --line-num-width option.
Add the --status-col-width option.
Add the --use-color and --color options.
Display -w highlight even if highlighted line is empty.
If search result is in a long line, scroll to ensure it is visible.
Editing the same file under different names now creates only one entry in the file list.
Make visual bell more visible on some terminals.
Ring end-of-file bell no more than once per second.
Build can use either Python or Perl for Makefile.aut operations.

Fixes

Fix crash when using the @ search modifier.
Fix crash in the 's' command due to duplicate free.
Fix realpath crash on Darwin.

---

v581.2 → v590:

Make less able to read lesskey source files (deprecating lesskey).
If XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set, find lesskey source file in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lesskey rather than $HOME/.lesskey.
If XDG_DATA_HOME is set, find and store history file in $XDG_DATA_HOME/lesshst rather than $HOME/.lesshst.
Add the --lesskey-src option.
Add the --file-size option.
With -F, if screen is resized to make file fit on one screen, don't exit.

Fixes

Fix bug which could leave terminal in mouse-reporting mode after exiting less.
Fix bug which caused failure to respond to window resize.
Fix backslash bug searching in tag file.

---

v590 → v608:

Add the --header option.
Add the --no-number-headers option.
Add the --status-line option.
Add the --redraw-on-quit option.
Add the --search-options option.
Add the --exit-follow-on-close option.
Add 'H' color type to set color of header lines.
Add #version conditional to lesskey.
Add += syntax to variable section in lesskey files.
Allow option name in -- command to end with '=' in addition to '\n'.
Add $HOME/.config to possible locations of lesskey file.
Add $XDG_STATE_HOME and $HOME/.local/state to possible locations of history file.
Don't read or write history file in secure mode.
Add more \k codes to lesskey format.
Defer moving cursor to lower left in some more cases.
Suppress TAB filename expansion in some cases where it doesn't make sense.
Escape filenames when invoking LESSCLOSE.

Fixes

Fix display of multibyte and double-width chars in prompt.
Fix ESC-BACKSPACE command when BACKSPACE key does not send 0x08.
Fix bug when empty file is modified while viewing it.
Fix bug when parsing a malformed lesskey file.
Fix bug scrolling history when --incsearch is set.
Fix buffer overflow when invoking lessecho with more than 63 -m/-n options.
Fix buffer overflow in bin_file.
Fix bug restoring color at end of highlighted text.
Fix bug in parsing lesskey file.
Fix termlib detection when compiler doesn't accept calls to undeclared functions.
Fix bug in input of non-ASCII characters on Windows.
Fix bug using multibyte UTF-8 char in search string with --incsearch.

[God-damnit-all]

Personally speaking, --redraw-on-quit would be particularly helpful for me, and I do like the new color options.

[God-damnit-all]

I hope you can find time to work on this again. Here's the latest set of changes from the newest release (and helpfully they link to GitHub issues now):

---

v608 → v633:

Add LESSUTFCHARDEF environment variable (github #275).
Add # command (github #330).
Add ^S search modifier (github #196).
Add --wordwrap option (github #113).
Add --no-vbell option (github #304).
Add --no-search-headers option (github #44).
Add --modelines option (github #89).
Add --intr option (github #224).
Add --proc-backspace, --proc-tab and --proc-return options (github #335).
Add --show-preproc-errors option (github #258).
Add LESS_LINES and LESS_COLUMNS environment variables (github #84).
Add LESS_DATA_DELAY environment variable (github #337).
Allow empty "lines" field in --header option.
Update Unicode tables.
Improve ability of ^X to interrupt F command (github #49).
Status column (-J) shows off-screen matches.
Parenthesized sub-patterns in searches are colored with unique colors, if supported by the regular expression library (github #196).
Don't allow opening a tty as file input unless -f is set (github #309).
Don't require newline input after +&... option (github #339).
Don't retain search options from a cancelled search (github #302).
Don't call realpath on fake filenames like "-" (github #289).
Implement lesstest test suite.
Convert function parameter definitions from K&R to C89 (github #316).

Fixes

Fix incorrect handling of some Private Use Unicode characters.
Fix ANSI color bug when overstriking with colored chars (github #276).
Fix compiler const warning (github #279).
Fix signal race in iread (github #280).
Fix reading procfs files on Linux (github #282).
Fix --ignore-case with ctrl-R (no regex) search (github #300).
Fix bug doing repeat search after setting & filter (github #299).
Fix bug doing repeat search before non-repeat search.
Fix crash with -R and certain line lengths (github #338).
Fix input of Windows dead keys (github #352).
Don't retain search options from a cancelled search (github #302).
Don't call realpath on fake filenames like "-" (github #289).
Implement lesstest test suite.
Convert function parameter definitions from K&R to C89 (github #316).

[sergeevabc]

For your information, Less v643 by @gwsw and @jftuga is the last version that colors properly on Windows 7. Subsequent versions (including, for example, v668) still run, but the coloring is broken. See details.