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I also see that Google has "Update Engine": "a flexible Mac OS X framework that can help developers keep their products up-to-date. It can update nearly any type of software, including Cocoa apps, screen savers, and preference panes. It can even update kernel extensions, regular files, and root-owned applications. Update Engine can even update multiple products just as easily as it can update one."

http://code.google.com/p/update-engine/

I don't know if anyone else uses that though. Sparkle is probably not as full featured, but is probably easier to implement.
http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/

http://code.google.com/p/update-engine/

Why the hell don't MS Windows and OS X have a repository system to update apps?

Not a repository system, but Sparkle is a very commonly used free update framework for Mac OS X, used by virtually every piece of non-Apple software I use.

http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/

Appfresh seems to wrap all of the Apple, Microsoft, Adobe and Sparkle mechanisms in one place, but I haven't tried that.

http://metaquark.de/appfresh

AppUpdate and WigdetUpdate Dashboard widgets do a reasonable job of keeping non-Apple software current:
http://gkaindl.com/software/app-update/
http://gkaindl.com/software/widget-update

We can use Sparkle framework.

Okay just some random conjecture:

Imagine you've got a program called "Opera Browser" and you are Not distributed through the app store. That means you won't be able to use the LaunchPad

According to what reliable source is that the case?

and 1-Click Updates.

To be precise, you won't be able to use the App Store code's 1-click updates. Imagine you're a company called "Opera Software", large enough to be listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange; you might well be able to provide your own auto-update mechanism and infrastructure on your Web site to support it. Hey, maybe someday somebody will even provide some free software that lets you put auto-update into your OS X application.

the second is the ability to update apps to new versions with one click.

Yeah, because no Mac applications currently have that ability. Oh, unless you count the ~750 listed here, that use Sparkle.

~Philly

Well, you can't get all your apps up to date at one time with Sparkle. I have a lot of apps that I only use occasionally. Every time I run one of them, I have t update it. Sometimes I even find an app that won't run because it needs updating for compatibility with whichever version of MacOS X I'm on now.

It would be nice to have a centralized system for updating third-party apps. This isn't perfect, but it is a step in the right direction

The second is the ability to update apps to new versions with one click.

Huh. Someone didn't tell that to all of the developers that have been using the Sparkle framework for the last however long in their applications. While it's great that Apple is finally rolling this functionality into the OS as a native component, it's not like Mac applications have been without it up until now. Most of the decent ones have been using Sparkle for a few years, and it does this just fine. Now, if only they would buy out Growl, I'd be a happy man.

Only by submitting their apps to Apple's store and giving up 30% of their receipts will developers get to take advantage of two new OS features.

The first is Apple's new 'Launchpad,' a tool for easily opening application

Where exactly does it say that no apps except those bought from the App Store will be available in the Launchpad? Doesn't say that on Apple's page, and the way it's written doesn't even imply it, unless you're out looking for something to post an anti-Apple screed.

the second is the ability to update apps to new versions with one click.

Yeah, because no Mac applications currently have that ability. Oh, unless you count the ~750 listed here, that use Sparkle.

~Philly

If only someone brought Sparkle to Windows...

All in all, it's not bad. On the other hand, it means every application pops up with its own update notifications. If I haven't used a system for a while or I reinstall from an image, I get a pop-up on just about every application I run. I'd much rather have something that just checks every so often and runs updates for all my programs at once.

Windows is just a mess.

It should be Microsoft Twilight because now it Sparkles.

I prefer beer... but anyway, I was talking about what appeared as the first result in google: http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/

Someone add a feature to turn it off completely.

Can someone remind why they did it this way again, other than for annoyance? Whatever good reason they had is probably nullified by the fact people try to remove it, because of its annoying behaviour. Please just let me know when I use the application, and not when I haven't opened the application for over a month.

On MacOS X Sparkle is a nice way to go about things, and something I would like to see ported to other platforms.

It is like Sparkle framework, only the Sparkle update checker part runs before the application itself and updates application if necessary. Sparkle became de-facto standard software update checker in OS X, there are even people asking Apple to include it in standard OS X Frameworks.

So lets say, when you launch Adium, its update checker will run first, make sure it is current version and actually run it after updating.

One must ask... Is Apple preparing a Konfubulator against Sparkle in Gold Master of Snow Leopard? Not like Sparkle go out of business (!), it is open source framework which we (users) just hope multi million/billion dollar companies using it are donating.

http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/

They are re-inventing the wheel. Everyone from GNU die-hard developers to big evil (!) commercial companies rely on a single framework, Sparkle.

http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/

Users even suggest Apple to acquire it but IMHO it is good this way, as independent software/framework.

If they are insist on re-inventing the wheel and add a launch daemon running as "root" to everyone's macs while Sparkle runs basically as user, people has right to go paranoid. That "We are not evil" isn't really credible anymore, it is only Google and their fans believing it.

Why on Earth can't they use something like Sparkle, which is so much less obnoxious - this only warns you when you launch your application, and also self updates if you say yes. If all software started acting like Google Software Update, then we would spend half our day simply closing update windows for software which we haven't used in a month.

Also, Camino now has a built-in updating mechanism, Sparkle. This framework is the de facto standard for third-party software updates on Mac OS X. It will check periodically, but you can also click on the Camino menu and select "Check for Updates..." at any time.

Indeed. Windows update has always irritated me to no end, not to mention the fact that Microsoft has released numerous patches and/or updates that were "unsafe" to use. Service packs and IE updates are well-known to be buggy at first, and break compatibility with some applications.

Apple's system update app is pretty straightforward. It'd be nice if system updates didn't require a reboot, but I can live with that, given that they're somewhat infrequent.

Ubuntu seems to be the best, though. Every morning, a panel icon flashes if I have critical updates waiting. Click the icon, review the updates, and click install. Usually no reboot required. Works for every app, though I understand that Linux's package management paradigm will probably never be adopted on MacOS or Windows, given that it's unnecessarily complicated for those OSes.

Mac developers have a neat option to them in the form of sparkle, an Open-source framework that allows developers to very simply integrate an auto-update feature into their apps. It's arguably the most popular 3rd-party framework in use on MacOS, and most applications use it.

Sparkle is excellent

And IMHO check for updates manually is appropriate for most situations. Sparkle makes that east too.

Most everyone uses Sparkle, which I frankly think works better than Software Update.

Luckly though, implementing updating into your application is only a few clicks and an rss feed away with Sparkle. Sparkle makes it so a developer has no excuses to not to add updating into their application - literally, zero lines of code added. Though - it would be nice to be able to hook into Software Update - just for the uniformity as a user - however I do like the current method (Sparkle enhanced) very much as well.

I don't know of one, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. If it does, I'd love to know about it: besides Castle Infinity, I'm an open-source developer! (see Open Sword Group). I'd love to open-source C8. That'd be great. If you can think of a good way to keep it secure, please let me know.

Kevin Quitt ... In putative charge is Rev. Kevin D. Quitt, who came into his position of Benevolent Dictator by virtue of the fact that he went dumpster diving when Castle Infinity's creators (Starwave) decided there was No Commercial Potential for the game, and threw out the baby with the bath (servers and all). He is the game's and the corporation's administrator, but besides that, he designs some algorithms and codes some of the utilities we use.

John Cantu joined the Castle Infinity staff in 2000 and does assorted administrative tasks. (Have you ever noticed you can't hack connect.dat? That's because he did it first.) Outside C8, John is working towards his B.S. in Computer Information Science with a goal of becoming a systems/network administrator, and currently works as an analyst for a multinational media information company.

David Estes
David Estes is possibly insane due to being a mad scientist
David Estes is glad that this intruder chose to invade his wheat field
David Estes is well known throughout the community for his soccer talents
David Estes is the new assistant provost for teaching
David Estes is president of the lutheran child and family services of illinois
David Estes is one of the owners of pacific northwest distributing

Greg Kumparak's been around Castle Infinity longer than he wishes to disclose. He started playing around the same time he began sporting a Power Rangers lunch box. Greg is responsible for the majority of the new art (including this site) and likes to brand himself as "Lead Level Design" when discussing Castle Infinity with others. Children simultaneously adore and fear him.
He still carries around a Power Rangers lunch box.

Edward Marks, unlike the other architects, never had a chance to play Castle Infinity when it was still operated by Starwave. He began playing in 2000 and joined the architect team in 2002. His original job was as an artist, but Greg has taken over most of his former responsibilities. Now he is responsible for the organization and use of original Starwave material (a lot of it was left on those abandoned hard drives) and has created several body parts, items, levels, and ideas. Outside of the game, he attends Thomas Jefferson School, with Andy, but will soon graduate and enroll full time in Stanford University in California.

Andy Matuschak joined the Castle Infinity team in 2001 as a client programmer (he likes to refer to himself as the "Lead Programmer"), but he's served in various capacities since then. His largest projects for the game include the site you're reading now (which he coded), the Infrared update system, the currency system, and the HUD. On a day to day basis, Andy is responsible for new features in the client, web site updates, and most of the levels that require code. Outside of the game, he attends Thomas Jefferson School in St. Louis, MO (graduating in 2006) and spends much of what time remains working with the Open Sword Group on open-source Mac software.

© Castle Infinity, Inc. 1996-2005 (( -- but I hope they don't mind me posting this here. ))