Implement a publisher

Introduction

As this project seems to be my main alternative to Squirrel while converting my apps to .NET Core 3.1 / .NET FW 5, I would like to put out the idea of a dedicated (Windows) installer / publisher in similar fashion to Squirrel. (I will be using the term .NET 5 for whatever the correct version will be.)

Notes

I guess making the Installer/Uninstaller parts are the hardest, however I will have to replace Squirrel eventually and it’s good to have some plan at least. This project does not need to be made under the Onova name, but if I ever start working on this, I will fork Onova. If Squirrel finishes the rework on time, I guess this will not be as needed. But still, I have issues even with the current working Squirrel so creating this would still benefit me (at least).

Publisher

• Implemented in .NET 5
• Available NuGet as Onova.Publish
• Works the same as dotnet publish, except it creates additional files for the Onova update system

Input

• Config file (e.g. some simple XML, not necessarily NuGet nuspec)
• CLI (publisher.exe -> read config file from $(SolutionDirectory) -> output to ReleaseDir)

Output

• Zip package

• Changelog file

  • Version A - Read config file and append the changelog entry into a unified CHANGELOG file with version tags

    • This would mean that the Resolver would have to fetch just one file to get the whole changelog
    • On the other hand, the Resolver would have to use some sort of regex to find the last entry
    • The changelog could get gigantic and would defeat the purpose of this system

  • Version B - Copy changelog from config and paste to a new .changelog file that will have the same name as the zip package

    • Probably easier to implement and suits my use case better
    • If you want to show the user a list of all changelogs, you have to iterate over the manifest file and fetch all changelogs

  • Reason for this:

    • I need to show the user a changelog before the download happens, currently in Squirrel I just put it into a nuspec and then during update I fetch the whole package, before the user clicks yes/no (which is obviously bad in every aspect I can think of)

  • This feature also needs to implement custom Resolver (probably can reuse WebResolver)

• Manifest file (publisher scans ReleaseDir for *.zip and creates text file for WebResolver)

• Installer file (executable installer that embeds the zip for the newest version)

  • Must also contain an uninstaller

• Hash file

  • Only a suggestion to implement - it is not required but I guess that it would be nice if the updater could also fetch a hash of the update package and check it in similar fashion to Squirrel

  • Why a standalone file? - The manifest file for WebResolver already contains the version number, I guess it could also be appended after the package URL to not break existing Resolver infrastructure (haven’t looked into the implementation)

  • Suggestion: If both Changelog and Hash files will be implemented, it is advised to create new Resolver that will get everything under one roof (e. g. AdvancedWebResolver)

Installer

• This file is generated using Onova.Publish

• Probably compiled at runtime (during publish) using Roslyn

• Version A

  • Implemented in .NET 5
  • Uses the trimmed (.NET 5 containing) single package or the single file package with prompt to install if FW is missing, whichever actually works

• Version B

  • Implemented in .NET 4.6.1
  • Nothing extra should be needed, let’s assume every system has this FW
  • We can check if .NET 5 is installed

Properties

• Executable (.exe) file
• Contains the newest .zip package from publish
• Installer and uninstaller have icons (set in the publisher config)

Run

• Creates a folder in %localappdata% and extracts the embedded zip package
• Creates entry in Start Menu (also creates app publisher’s name folder)
• Creates Windows registry entry for uninstaller
• Run the app itself after installation

Uninstaller

• Do whatever works on Windows to uninstall the correct files and itself (probably the same as Squirrel)

[dady8889]

Hey, just wanted to let you know that I have actually made it. You can check it out here.

[Tyrrrz]

@dady8889 that’s pretty sick, thanks for sharing 😮👏🏻 I’ll add a mention to the readme ✨