Automatic updates for a Win32 application?

Question

We have a desktop product consisting of a Win32 service, a notification application, and related DLL files.

I was instructed to take a look at automatic updates. We could write our own updater, but before we do this, I would like to see what else is there. Are there any commercial systems (such as those similar to Windows Update) that we could use? I am sure InstallShield used something like this, but I cannot find it now, and it is possible that my memory failed.

This is a Win32 application (and service), so ClickOnce is missing (or is it?).

Answer 1

Check out the Google Omaha project . I once studied it. But in the end, I realized that it would be easier to reinvent the wheel than to find out everything that comes into Omaha’s work. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a common solution. Most of the projects that I reviewed tend to create their own updates.

This is bad because everyone tends to make the same mistakes over and over again. Making secure updates is not trivial. Read this: Automatic update: is it safe?

I also find it rather annoying, as every auto-updating thinks it should work 24 hours in 7 days in my system notification area.

I would venture to say that one of the main advantages of the application store model is that developers do not need to worry about creating an update system.

Answer 2

I highly recommend GUP: http://gup-win32.tuxfamily.org/

This is an automatic update developed by Notepad ++ author and fully open source.

Answer 3

You might want to use this solution . Source code (C ++) is included.