NSIS automatic and silent update

Question

I am currently building an application and want to have an installer and automatic silent updates for it.

Dropbox, Spotify and Chrome all are amazing at updating without anyone noticing. So I took a look at the Dropbox Roaming Folder in AppData and found a file named DropboxUpdateHelper.exe with an NSIS Icon. In the Spotify folder I could only find a SpotifyHelper.exe and a mentioning of NSIS in the Terms.

Is there a tutorial of how to install an application inside the Roaming Folder and have a silent auto updater? I am not fixed on NSIS but would prefer an open source and free installer.

Answer 1

NSIS has the INetC plugin that can be used to download things from the internet but I don't know if there is an auto update tutorial out there. You might also want to take a look at the VPatch plugin...

There are many variables to think about here:

• Should your main application look for updates or just run the updater on application (or windows) startup so it can check?
• Are the files on the server signed or do you have other ways to detect invalid/corrupted/MitM updates?
• Do you require access control/DRM before downloading/applying updates?
• How will you handle major version number updates? Will you support more than one major version or force upgrades?
• Do you require administrator rights to update? UAC handling?
• How are you going to support upgrading from 1.0 to 1.2? Update to 1.1 first or support every possible minor version upgrade path?

I'm sure there are many other issues you also have to think about. You should probably try to answer all these questions before you start coding. During development you might find other questions or that you have to change the design completely.

IMHO, this is not a simple question and I don't think you will be able to find a drop-in solution that fits your exact design/requirements...

Answer 2

It is easy to download files from internet using NSIS (there are several plug-ins for this purpose: NSISdl, InetC, ...) but such functionality is more about coding.

There is no exact solution for this - as Anders said you need to specify every detail to achieve required behaviour.