From 6aa9bd0f77dcb5128167fae62e32aa5252fe85c6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Petr=20Mr=C3=A1zek?= <peterix@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2013 00:55:24 +0100
Subject: Renew the updater branch

Now with some actual consensus on what the updater will do!
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+This tool is a component of a cross-platform auto-update system.
+It is responsible for performing the installation of an update after
+the necessary files have been downloaded to a temporary directory.
+
+It was originally written for use with Mendeley Desktop (see www.mendeley.com)
+
+The tool consists of a single small binary which performs update installation,
+an XML file format describing the contents of an update (an 'update script') 
+and a tool to create update scripts from a directory containing an installed application.
+
+To perform an update, the application (or another separate tool) needs to download
+the updater binary, an update script and one or more compressed packages
+containing the files for the update to a temporary directory.  It then needs
+to invoke the updater, specifying the location where the application is installed,
+the location of the compressed packages and the path to the update script.
+
+Once the updater has been started, it:
+
+ 1. Waits for the application to exit
+ 2. Acquires the necessary priviledges to install the updates, prompting
+    the user if necessary.
+ 3. Installs the updates, displaying progress to the user in a small dialog 
+ 4. Performs cleanup and any additional actions required as part of the update
+ 5. Starts the new version of the main application.
+
+ In the event of a failure during the update, the installation is rolled back
+ to its previous state and a message is presented to the user.
+
+## Building the Updater
+
+ Create a new directory for the build and from that directory run:
+
+    cmake <path to source directory>
+    make
+
+ The updater binary will be built in the src/ directory.
+
+ You should also run the tests in src/tests to verify that the updater is
+ functioning correctly.
+
+## Preparing an Update
+
+ 1. Create a directory containing your application's files,
+    laid out in the same way and with the same permissions as they would be when installed.
+ 2. Create a config file specifying how the application's files should be
+    partitioned into packages - see tools/config-template.json
+ 3. Use the tools/create-packages.rb script to create a file_list.xml file
+    and a set of package files required for updates.
+ 4. Upload the file_list.xml file and packages to a server
+
+ After step 4 is done, you need to notify existing installs that an update
+ is available.  The installed application then needs to download the
+ relevant packages, file_list.xml file and updater binary to a temporary
+ directory and invoke the updater.
+
+ See doc/update-hosting for more details on hosting and delivering the updates.
+
+## Invoking the Updater
+
+ Once the application has downloaded an update, it needs to invoke it.  The syntax is:
+
+    updater --install-dir <install-dir> --package-dir <package-dir> --script <script file>
+
+ Where `<install-dir>` is the directory which the application is installed into,
+ `<package-dir>` is the directory containing the packages required for the update
+ and `<script>` is the `file_list.xml` file describing the update.
+
+ Once the updater has run, it will launch the file specified in the `file_list.xml` file
+ as being the main application binary.
+
+ See the updater test in `src/tests/test-update.rb` for an example
+ of how to invoke the updater.
+
+ You should design the process used to download and launch the updater so that new
+ versions of the updater itself can be delivered as part of the update if necessary.
+
+## Customizing the Updater
+
+ To customize the application name, organization and messages displayed by the updater:
+
+  1. Edit the AppInfo class (in AppInfo.h, AppInfo.cpp) to set the name
+     of the application and associated organization.
+  2. Replace the icons in src/resources
+  3. Change the product name and organization in src/resources/updater.rc
+  4. If you are building the updater on Windows and have a suitable Authenticode
+     certificate, use it to sign the Windows binary.  This will make the application
+	 show a less scary UAC prompt if administrator permissions are required
+	 to complete the installation.
+
+## Updater Dependencies
+
+ The external dependencies of the updater binary are:
+
+ * The C/C++ runtime libraries (Linux, Mac),
+ * pthreads (Linux, Mac),
+ * zlib (Linux, Mac)
+ * native UI library (Win32 API on Windows, Cocoa on Mac, GTK on Linux if available)
+
+## Full and Delta Updates
+
+ The simplest auto-update implementation is for existing installs
+ to download a complete copy of the new version and install it.  This is
+ appropriate if a full download and install will not take a long time for most users
+ (eg. if the application is small or they have a fast internet connection).
+
+ With this tool, a full-update involves putting all files in a build of
+ the application into a single package.
+
+ To reduce the download size, delta updates can be created which only include
+ the necessary files or components to update from the old to the new version.
+
+ The file_list.xml file format can be used to represent either a complete
+ install - in which every file that makes up the application is included,
+ or a delta update - in which case only new or updated files and packages
+ are included.
+
+ There are several ways in which this can be done:
+
+ * Pre-computed Delta Updates
+  For each release, create a full update plus delta updates from the
+  previous N releases.  Users of recent releases will receive a small
+  delta update.  Users of older releases will receive the full update.
+
+ * Server-computed Delta Updates
+  The server receives a request for an update from client version X and in response,
+  computes an update from version X to the current version Y, possibly
+  caching that information for future use.  The client then receives the
+  delta file_list.xml file and downloads only the listed packages.
+
+  Applications such as Chrome and Firefox use a mixture of the above methods.
+
+ * Client-computed Delta Updates
+  The client downloads the file_list.xml file for the latest version and
+  computes a delta update file locally.  It then downloads only the required
+  packages and invokes the updater, which installs only the changed or updated
+  files from those packages.
+
+  This is similar to Linux package management systems.
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