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I want to develop a software updater for Mac OS wherein I want to do silent updates (the user should not be informed about the update and it should automatically download the update as well and install it).

I have seen Sparkle software updater but it seems it asks the user before installing it.

Has anyone used Sparkle for silent update or there are any other open source codes for the installer in cocoa?

Note:- a lot of application are doing this on Mac, like DropBox etc..

Any hint in the right direction would be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Ekra
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    Just my opinion: but your customers & users should be aware when their applications are being updated and what functionality is being added or removed or fixed. – Michael Dautermann Mar 08 '12 at 08:49
  • I would not recommend this approach. Also, I'm not too sure to what degree you would be able to install things without the user giving permission (a feature in osx we all love). – chikuba Mar 08 '12 at 08:49
  • I will ask for the permission for the first time when the application is installed. If he gives the permission than I will do all silent updates. – Ekra Mar 08 '12 at 08:53
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    Agree it's not ideal behaviour, but if using Sparkle see: https://answers.launchpad.net/sparkle/+question/64041. Better info: https://github.com/andymatuschak/Sparkle/issues/162 (https://github.com/andymatuschak/Sparkle/tree/quiet-automatic-update) – petert Mar 08 '12 at 13:03
  • Just don't do it. Thanks for the heads up about Drop box. I'll have to see if I can find a way to disable its silent update. – JeremyP Mar 08 '12 at 14:43
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    Google Chrome, DropBox and Spotify all do this as far as I know. Personally, I like the behaviour. – Nick Moore Mar 08 '12 at 17:00
  • There's nothing wrong with this behavior _per se_; many apps have a checkbox in Preferences for "Install updates automatically". Personally, I uncheck it every time, but I'm sure some, if not many, people prefer it. – jscs Mar 08 '12 at 18:05
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    One of the most annoying thing about desktop app development vis-a-vis web app development is precisely that you cannot easily update applications and have to constantly manage multiple app versions in the wild. Sure users should be notified about what features are being added and removed, but desktop developers need to have the ability to auto update applications just like web apps developers do. – Tony Jul 22 '12 at 08:06
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    I like my apps automatically updating themselves. Don't tell me about bugs that exist in the version I'm using - just fix them before I notice them! – ArtOfWarfare Jun 02 '13 at 20:23

1 Answers1

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If sparkle is been used then below are the links for silent updates.

https://github.com/andymatuschak/Sparkle/tree/quiet-automatic-update

https://answers.launchpad.net/sparkle/+question/64041

Monolo
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Ekra
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  • The `quiet-automatic-update` branch has been merged on Feb 1, 2014 (see https://github.com/sparkle-project/Sparkle/pull/319) – aaronk6 Feb 10 '15 at 08:39