Better updates flow (via Sparkle)

[ashbridgewater]

Really glad to have found this. I used blue-switch for a bit but found it increasingly hit or miss; this seems like the long overdue rewrite.

Just seen that it looks like you push updates fairly frequently (at least for now) and thought I'd recommend pushing them via Sparkle, which seems to be good practice at the minute in MacOS dev (if not listing on the app store). Thanks again.

[MegaManSec]

Thanks, I'll look into it.

[ashbridgewater]

Thanks. The updates you pushed last night are a good example of why this would be an improvement on the update flow: with Sparkle they'd happen within the app itself from a user POV; whereas at the moment, the user is directed to GitHub to download and install again.

The current flow also means app permissions are requested AGAIN as the update is effectively treated as a new app altogether and means users have to navigate to Privacy in settings to allow the app to open every time they go through the update flow.

[MegaManSec]

Yes I know, I use the app through the same download channel as everyone else, so I know it can be somewhat annoying.

However, I'm not sure that Sparkle actually solves any of the issues you've mentioned, with the exception of having to download the update manually. Sparkle handles the update mechanism, but it does not by itself give each release a stable signing identity. As far as I understand, if the app remains unsigned or ad-hoc signed, macOS may still treat a new version as a different binary and ask the user to approve privacy permissions again. The Gatekeeper warning may also still apply. So unless the releases are consistently signed, I do not think it is accurate to say that users would no longer need to approve anything after each update.

Adding Sparkle as a dependency is also a somewhat difficult thing to do, because it expands the attack surface significantly (since this app has zero dependences) and I would need to do a somewhat thorough security review.

I think the best option is to look into how I can get a proper signing certificate issued by Apple. I think it's some yearly fee of some money and KYC. I'll look into it eventually.