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For Windows, there is an alternative approach: simply rename the running application to a different name (e.g. app.exe to app-old-timestamp.exe). This frees up

For Windows, there is an alternative approach: simply rename the running application to a different name (e.g. app.exe to app-old-timestamp.exe). This frees up the file name which can be overwritten to any other executable. The only problem I'm aware of is that this process may leave app.exe non-existent for a moment [1], but in return a need for keeping two executables vanishes. [1] Technically speaking I believe this can be solved with transactional NTFS (deprecated but still available as of Windows 11, AFAIK).

CaptainOfCoit 1y ago
Can you rename applications that are currently running? Last I recall, trying to rename a binary you're currently running would lead to some weird "cannot access" errors or similar. But I mostly use Linux, maybe I misunderstood it. Last time I came across it, I worked around it by having a "launcher" that wrote to a temporary path, closed old process, moved and started again. Slight indirection, but seemed to always work and be robust enough, compared to what we initially tried.
- lifthrasiir 1y ago
  Surprisingly, yes. Go does this for example.
- diath 1y ago
  Yes, I was recently working for an updater for a game and that's essentially how I solved it. The updater renames the current .dll and .exe files to .dll.old and .exe.old, then downloads the new .dll and .exe files, then on next launch, the application looks for .dll.old and .exe.old files in the current working directory and deletes them.
  - r_hanz 1y ago
    This is exactly how I've achieved this on Windows in the past. However, since writing that solution, I have come to understand that utilizing AppDomains (for .Net Framework) and AssemblyLoadContexts (for .Net Core) to load/unload the binaries seems to be the intended workflow.
1718627440 1y ago
This is essentially the same as using unlink on Linux, because this also keeps the file around until it is open.

CaptainOfCoit 1y ago

Can you rename applications that are currently running? Last I recall, trying to rename a binary you're currently running would lead to some weird "cannot access" errors or similar. But I mostly use Linux, maybe I misunderstood it. Last time I came across it, I worked around it by having a "launcher" that wrote to a temporary path, closed old process, moved and started again. Slight indirection, but seemed to always work and be robust enough, compared to what we initially tried.

lifthrasiir 1y ago
Surprisingly, yes. Go does this for example.
diath 1y ago
Yes, I was recently working for an updater for a game and that's essentially how I solved it. The updater renames the current .dll and .exe files to .dll.old and .exe.old, then downloads the new .dll and .exe files, then on next launch, the application looks for .dll.old and .exe.old files in the current working directory and deletes them.
- r_hanz 1y ago
  This is exactly how I've achieved this on Windows in the past. However, since writing that solution, I have come to understand that utilizing AppDomains (for .Net Framework) and AssemblyLoadContexts (for .Net Core) to load/unload the binaries seems to be the intended workflow.

1718627440 1y ago

This is essentially the same as using unlink on Linux, because this also keeps the file around until it is open.