My method seems to work perfectly. Traditionally, the developer would
create two downloads: complete, and app-only. This is because with
auto-update, the extra files are not needed.
But I didn't like this. I wanted to have one download. So my download
is a internet-enabled self-extracting disk image (per Apple's
suggestion) with a single file - the application. So when the user
downloads the file, it's simple and very Mac OS X native. The package
behaves as my users expect.
When it comes time to auto-update, the app downloads the exact same
file as a new user would. It then mounts the disk image, renames
itself to <app name>.old while running (it works), copies the new
version into the same directory, unmounts the image, throws it away,
launches the new version, then quits itself. Because an app cannot
delete itself, the new app looks for the old copy and will delete it
at launch. The process works completely automatically, no user
interaction at all (except, of course, the user accepting the new
version).
A snag you may run into is deleting the old version. Mac OS X may not
allow you to without a password. For my application, it displays a
standard auth window. For your setup, this may not work out.
Basically, it's possible, and not too difficult. Contact me off-list
if you need some more detailed help.
--
Thom McGrath, <http://www.thezaz.com/>
"You realize you've created God in your own image when God hates all
the same people you do."
On Mar 26, 2006, at 10:33 AM, Steve Weintraut wrote:
My need is merely to provide apps for our Mac-Only internal network
at our company. When I write in RealBasic, I have a routine that
checks with our database server to see if there is a newer version
than what is currently loaded on the users machine and they call
our department to get the newer version loaded for them.
The problem is that with dozens of users, this gets old fast.
I was wondering if anyone knew of a way of auto-updating an
application. I would think that somehow the new version would have
to be downloaded to a temp directory, the current version moves
itself to the trash (is that even possible?), and then quits and
relaunches the new version after copying it to the applications
folder on OS X
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