4 ms·

I wish both OSX/MacOS and Windows had a generic solution for 3rd party applications to check for updates, that wasn't tied to their respective stores. It's suc

by mey 7y ago

I wish both OSX/MacOS and Windows had a generic solution for 3rd party applications to check for updates, that wasn't tied to their respective stores. It's such a common pattern and requirement, the OS should/could provide the infrastructure to have a background service that periodically checks external links for availability of new software.

wlesieutre 7y ago
It seems like nearly every piece of macOS software outside of the App Store uses Sparkle for updates https://sparkle-project.org/ https://sparkle-project.org/
- cornstalks 7y ago
  I like how Sparkle mentions being “modern” and uses “supports [...] Xcode 5.0 through 7.0” as evidence. Xcode 7 was released in 2015; the current version of Xcode is 11. Looks like the website needs a little updating... (To clarify, I’m just pointing out a humorous observation, not making a statement on Sparkle)
- josephg 7y ago
  Right; except sparkle is terrible. At exactly the moment I want to use the app I get bothered by a difficult decision: Do I want to interrupt the flow of my work and wait a couple minutes so it can download and update, moving something that should happen in the background into something that directly interrupts my flow. Or skip the update and hope there were no important security / compatibility issues fixed. (Or kick the cart down the road and have it remind me later.) The button I want is “update in the background when you close the app”, and it shouldn’t ask; it should just quietly do that. For all that chrome’s updater is like a tropical disease, it sure has way better UX than sparkle.
  - cameldrv 7y ago
    You forgot that, after you've told it to download the update, it pops up another interrupting dialog asking whether you want to install the update. If you just tell it to update and go get a coffee, when you come back, it won't be done.
  - wlesieutre 7y ago
    If you ask me, everything should copy Paint.NET for update process. You get three choices: ignore, install now, install when I quit.

by mey 7y ago

wlesieutre 7y ago

It seems like nearly every piece of macOS software outside of the App Store uses Sparkle for updates https://sparkle-project.org/ https://sparkle-project.org/

cornstalks 7y ago
I like how Sparkle mentions being “modern” and uses “supports [...] Xcode 5.0 through 7.0” as evidence. Xcode 7 was released in 2015; the current version of Xcode is 11. Looks like the website needs a little updating... (To clarify, I’m just pointing out a humorous observation, not making a statement on Sparkle)
josephg 7y ago
Right; except sparkle is terrible. At exactly the moment I want to use the app I get bothered by a difficult decision: Do I want to interrupt the flow of my work and wait a couple minutes so it can download and update, moving something that should happen in the background into something that directly interrupts my flow. Or skip the update and hope there were no important security / compatibility issues fixed. (Or kick the cart down the road and have it remind me later.) The button I want is “update in the background when you close the app”, and it shouldn’t ask; it should just quietly do that. For all that chrome’s updater is like a tropical disease, it sure has way better UX than sparkle.
- cameldrv 7y ago
  You forgot that, after you've told it to download the update, it pops up another interrupting dialog asking whether you want to install the update. If you just tell it to update and go get a coffee, when you come back, it won't be done.
- wlesieutre 7y ago
  If you ask me, everything should copy Paint.NET for update process. You get three choices: ignore, install now, install when I quit.