auto_updater

This plugin allows Flutter desktop apps to automatically update themselves (based on sparkle and winsparkle).

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• Platform Support
• Quick Start
  • Installation
    • ⚠️ Windows requirements
  • Usage
  • Publish your app
    • Generate private key
      • macOS
      • Windows
    • Packaging
      • macOS
      • Windows
    • Get signature
      • macOS
      • Windows
    • Distributing
• Troubleshooting
  • macOS
• Who's using it?
• API
  • AutoUpdater
    • Methods
      • setFeedURL
      • checkForUpdates
      • setScheduledCheckInterval
• Related Links
• License

Platform Support

Quick Start

Installation

Add this to your package's pubspec.yaml file:

dependencies:
  auto_updater: ^0.1.7

Or

dependencies:
  auto_updater:
    git:
      url: https://github.com/leanflutter/auto_updater.git
      ref: main

⚠️ Windows requirements

• openssl

Run the following command:

Use Chocolatey

choco install openssl

Usage

import 'package:auto_updater/auto_updater.dart';

void main() async {
  // Must add this line.
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();

  String feedURL = 'http://localhost:5002/appcast.xml';
  await autoUpdater.setFeedURL(feedURL);
  await autoUpdater.checkForUpdates();
  await autoUpdater.setScheduledCheckInterval(3600);

  runApp(MyApp());
}

Please see the example app of this plugin for a full example.

Publish your app

Generate private key

Run the following command:

dart run auto_updater:generate_keys

You need to run this command on macOS and Windows systems separately.

macOS

Prepare signing with EdDSA signatures:

Output:

A key has been generated and saved in your keychain. Add the `SUPublicEDKey` key to
the Info.plist of each app for which you intend to use Sparkle for distributing
updates. It should appear like this:

    <key>SUPublicEDKey</key>
    <string>pfIShU4dEXqPd5ObYNfDBiQWcXozk7estwzTnF9BamQ=</string>

Change the file macos/Runner/Info.plist as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>

  ...

+	<key>SUPublicEDKey</key>
+	<string>bHaXClrRGMmKoKP/3HJnr/jn2ODTRPAM3VZhhkI9ZvY=</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Windows

Prepare signing with DSA signatures:

Output:

Generated two files:
dsa_priv.pem: your private key. Keep it secret and don't share it!
dsa_pub.pem: public counterpart to include in youe app.
BACK UP YOUR PRIVATE KEY AND KEEP IT SAFE!
If you lose it, your users will be unable to upgrade!

command will generate the private key (dsa_priv.pem) and the public key (dsa_pub.pem) for you. Please Back up your private key and keep it safe, Add your public key to your project either as Windows resource.

Change the file windows/runner/Runner.rc as follows:

...

+/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+//
+// WinSparkle
+//

+// And verify signature using DSA public key:
+DSAPub      DSAPEM      "../../dsa_pub.pem"

Packaging

To simplify the packaging process, Flutter Distributor is used here, A complete tool dedicated to packaging and publishing Flutter apps.

Add distribute_options.yaml to your project root directory.

output: dist/
releases:
  - name: dev
    jobs:
      - name: release-macos
        package:
          platform: macos
          target: zip
          build_args:
            dart-define:
              APP_ENV: dev
      # See full documentation: https://distributor.leanflutter.org/configuration/makers/exe
      - name: release-windows
        package:
          platform: windows
          target: exe
          build_args:
            dart-define:
              APP_ENV: dev

macOS

Run the following command:

flutter_distributor release --name dev --jobs release-macos

Windows

Run the following command:

flutter_distributor release --name dev --jobs release-windows

Get signature

macOS

Run the following command:

dart run auto_updater:sign_update dist/1.1.0+2/auto_updater_example-1.1.0+2-macos.zip

Output:

sparkle:edSignature="pbdyPt92pnPkzLfQ7BhS9hbjcV9/ndkzSIlWjFQIUMcaCNbAFO2fzl0tISMNJApG2POTkZY0/kJQ2yZYOSVgAA==" length="13400992"

Update the obtained new signature to the value of the sparkle:edSignature attribute of the enclosure node of the appcast.xml file.

Windows

Run the following command:

dart run auto_updater:sign_update dist/1.1.0+2/auto_updater_example-1.1.0+2-windows-setup.exe

Output:

sparkle:dsaSignature="MEUCIQCVbVzVID7H3aUzAY5znpi+ySZKznkukV8whlMFzKh66AIgREUGOmvavlcg6hwAwkb2o4IqVE/D56ipIBshIqCH8rk=" length="13400992"

Update the obtained new signature to the value of the sparkle:dsaSignature attribute of the enclosure node of the appcast.xml file.

Distributing

Add appcast.xml to your project dist/ directory.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:sparkle="http://www.andymatuschak.org/xml-namespaces/sparkle">
    <channel>
        <title>auto_updater_example</title>
        <description>Most recent updates to auto_updater_example</description>
        <language>en</language>
        <item>
            <title>Version 1.1.0</title>
            <sparkle:releaseNotesLink>
                https://your_domain/your_path/release_notes.html
            </sparkle:releaseNotesLink>
            <pubDate>Sun, 16 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0800</pubDate>
            <enclosure url="1.1.0+2/auto_updater_example-1.1.0+2-macos.zip"
                       sparkle:edSignature="pbdyPt92pnPkzLfQ7BhS9hbjcV9/ndkzSIlWjFQIUMcaCNbAFO2fzl0tISMNJApG2POTkZY0/kJQ2yZYOSVgAA=="
                       sparkle:version="1.1.0"
                       sparkle:os="macos"
                       length="13400992"
                       type="application/octet-stream" />
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Version 1.1.0</title>
            <sparkle:releaseNotesLink>
                https://your_domain/your_path/release_notes.html
            </sparkle:releaseNotesLink>
            <pubDate>Sun, 16 Feb 2022 12:00:00 +0800</pubDate>
            <enclosure url="1.1.0+2/auto_updater_example-1.1.0+2-windows.exe"
                       sparkle:dsaSignature="MEUCIQCVbVzVID7H3aUzAY5znpi+ySZKznkukV8whlMFzKh66AIgREUGOmvavlcg6hwAwkb2o4IqVE/D56ipIBshIqCH8rk="
                       sparkle:version="1.1.0+2"
                       sparkle:os="windows"
                       length="0"
                       type="application/octet-stream" />
        </item>
    </channel>
</rss>

This example uses the same appcast.xml file for macOS and Windows, and you need to configure the value of the sparkle:os property accordingly.

Start the test update server:

cd dist/
serve -l 5002

Troubleshooting

macOS

• Make sure you have the sparkle pod added as described in Sparkle Documentation
• Make sure you have added and enabled network capabilties of your app and disabled the sandbox for release by adding the following to your entitlement files for debug and release

<key>com.apple.security.network.client</key>
  <true/>
<key>com.apple.security.network.server</key>
  <true/>
<key>com.apple.security.app-sandbox</key>
  <false/>

Who's using it?

• Biyi - A convenient translation and dictionary app.

API

AutoUpdater

Methods

setFeedURL

Sets the url and initialize the auto updater.

checkForUpdates

Asks the server whether there is an update. You must call setFeedURL before using this API.

setScheduledCheckInterval

Sets the auto update check interval, default 86400, minimum 3600, 0 to disable update

Related Links

• https://sparkle-project.org/
• https://winsparkle.org/

License

MIT