go-rocket-update

go-rocket-update: Build self-updating Go programs

Enable your Golang applications to easily and safely to self update.

It provides the flexibility to implement different updating user experiences like auto-updating, or manual user-initiated updates, and updates from different sources.

The gopher in this image was created by Takuya Ueda, licensed under Creative Commons 3.0 Attributions license.

Features

• Flexible way to provide updates (ex: using Github or Gitlab!)
• Cross platform support (Mac, Linux, Arm, and Windows)
• RSA signature verification
• Tooling to generate and verify signatures
• Background update
• Rollback feature

QuickStart

Install library

go get -u github.com/mouuff/go-rocket-update/...

Enable your App to Self Update

Here is an example using Github releases:

u := &updater.Updater{
	Provider: &provider.Github{
		RepositoryURL: "github.com/mouuff/go-rocket-update-example",
		ArchiveName:   fmt.Sprintf("binaries_%s.zip", runtime.GOOS),
	},
	ExecutableName: fmt.Sprintf("go-rocket-update-example_%s_%s", runtime.GOOS, runtime.GOARCH),
	Version:        "v0.0.1",
}

if _, err := u.Update(); err != nil {
	log.Println(err)
}

Check this project for a complete example: https://github.com/mouuff/go-rocket-update-example

Push an update

The updater uses a Provider as an input source for updates. It provides files and version for the updater.

Here is few examples of providers:

• provider.Github: It will check for the latest release on Github with a specific archive name (zip or tar.gz)
• provider.Gitlab: It will check for the latest release on Gitlab with a specific archive name (zip or tar.gz)
• provider.Local: It will use a local folder, version will be defined in the VERSION file (can be used for testing, or in a company with a shared folder for example)
• provider.Zip: It will use a zip file. The version is defined by the file name (Example: binaries-v1.0.0.tar.gz). Use GlobNewestFile to find the right file.
• provider.Gzip: Same as provider.Zip but with a tar.gz file.

The updater will list the files and retrieve them the same way for all the providers:

The directory should have files containing ExecutableName.

Example directory content with ExecutableName: fmt.Sprintf("test_%s_%s", runtime.GOOS, runtime.GOARCH):

test_windows_amd64.exe
test_darwin_amd64
test_linux_arm

We recommend using goxc for compiling your Go application for multiple platforms.

Planned features

This project is currently under construction, here is some of the things to come:

• More documentation and examples
• Variable templating
• Mutliple providers (enables the use of another provider if the first one is down)
• Update channels for Github provider (alpha, beta, ...)
• Validation of the executable being installed

API Breaking Changes

• Feb 7, 2021: Minor: The BinaryName variable used in Updater have been renamed to ExecutableName.
• Feb 12, 2021: Minor: The method Updater.Update() now returns (UpdateStatus, error) instead of just (error).
• Feb 14, 2021: Major: The ExecutableName variable used in Updater is no longer suffixed with "_" + runtime.GOOS + "_" + runtime.GOARCH.
• Feb 21, 2021: Minor: The ZipName variable used in provider.Github and provider.Gitlab have been renamed to ArchiveName with the arrival of tar.gz support.
• Aug 1, 2021: Major: The UpdateHook variable used in Updater have been replaced with PostUpdateFunc and the Updater will no longer call Rollback() automatically if the PostUpdateFunc returns an error.