Deploying

To sign on Mac, you need a developer account and a distribution certificate. Electron-build will auto pick up the cert if it exists

Way2 may be easy for private repos too

Way 1: AutoUpdate Server

Hazel

Easy zeit creation that pulls from github releases even for private repos

git clone https://github.com/zeit/hazel
cd hazel

#PUBLIC REPOS
now -e ACCOUNT="<github-account>" -e REPOSITORY="<github-repository>"
#Private REPOS
now --prod -e URL='https://<NOW DOMAIN>.now.sh' -e TOKEN="<GITHUB_TOKEN>" -e ACCOUNT="jsfuentes" -e REPOSITORY="Room"

Only run in the prod app version

const { app, autoUpdater } = require('electron')

const server = <your-deployment-url>
const feed = `${server}/update/${process.platform}/${app.getVersion()}`

autoUpdater.setFeedURL(feed)

setInterval(() => {
  autoUpdater.checkForUpdates()
}, 600000) //check every 10 minutes

Notifying user

autoUpdater.on('update-downloaded', (event, releaseNotes, releaseName) => {
  const dialogOpts = {
    type: 'info',
    buttons: ['Restart', 'Later'],
    title: 'Application Update',
    message: process.platform === 'win32' ? releaseNotes : releaseName,
    detail: 'A new version has been downloaded. Restart the application to apply the updates.'
  }

  dialog.showMessageBox(dialogOpts).then((returnValue) => {
    if (returnValue.response === 0) autoUpdater.quitAndInstall()
  })
})

autoUpdater.on('error', message => {
  console.error('There was a problem updating the application')
  console.error(message)
})

Way 2: Electron-Updater

Easiest setup! Struggles with private repos, apparently private repos work here too

1)

npm install electron-updater

2) Configure publish in package.json under "build" key

3)

const { autoUpdater } = require("electron-updater")

export default class AppUpdater {
  constructor() {
    const log = require("electron-log");
    log.transports.file.level = "info";
    autoUpdater.logger = log;
    autoUpdater.checkForUpdatesAndNotify();
  }
}

//...createMainWindow function {
    new AppUpdater();
}

Electron-updater Vs. built-in autoUpdater

  • Dedicated release server is not required.

  • Code signature validation on mac & win

  • All required metadata auto produced & published

  • Download progress and staged rollouts supported on all platforms.

  • Different providers supported out of the box (GitHub Releases, Amazon S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, Bintray and generic HTTP(s) server).

  • You need only 2 lines of code to make it work.

https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/7155)

Way 3, Electron Way:

Electron team maintains free update.electronjs.org for free apps in github releases

  • App runs on macOS or Windows

  • App has a public GitHub repository

  • Builds are published to GitHub Releases

  • Builds are code-signed

On Mac: App must be signed for auto updates, based on Squirrel.Mac

On WIndows: Make sure not to update app the [first time it runs](**

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