electron-builder@27.0.0-alpha.14

Major Changes

• Feat(msi): build msi and msiWrapped installers with WiX 3.14.1 (toolsets.wix), native arm64 MSIs (#10354) #10404 dacb1ec — app-builder-lib

  BREAKING CHANGE: toolsets.wix unset or "latest" (= "2.0.0") builds msi and msiWrapped installers with WiX 3.14.1, which produces a native Arm64 MSI for arm64 builds. toolsets.wix: "0.0.0" keeps the previous WiX 4.0.0.5512 preview bundle, which packages an arm64 app in an x64 MSI. The WiX 3 project uses the WiX 3 namespace, nested Directory elements (also for a nested menuCategory) and explicit ids for files in subdirectories; it keeps the upgrade code, install paths and file layout. An msiProjectCreated hook that inserts elements of a WiX 4 extension namespace must use the WiX 3 one (for example http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/UtilExtension) or pin "0.0.0"; with WiX 3, a project that still declares a WiX 4 namespace after the hook fails the build with an InvalidConfigurationError that names it. A custom bundle ({ url, checksum }) must have the WiX 3 layout.

Minor Changes

• Feat: binary, range-fetchable .blockmap format, chosen from electronUpdaterCompatibility (default raised to >=7). The block map published next to NSIS installers and macOS update zips is read by the electron-updater already installed in the users' apps, so its format follows the declared range: a range of electron-updater 7 and later (the new default) writes the binary map, a range that includes earlier versions writes the gzipped JSON map, with a once-per-build warning. The new blockmap option, "v2" | "v3" | "latest", overrides the choice: "v2" is the JSON map (format version 2), "v3" the binary map (failing the build when the range includes electron-updater before 7), "latest" the newest format the range allows. The build also fails when the app's own electron-updater dependency is outside electronUpdaterCompatibility, e.g. electron-updater 6 with the default >=7: upgrade it, or set electronUpdaterCompatibility: ">=6" to keep the JSON map. #10312 c983462 — app-builder-lib, builder-util-runtime, electron-publish

  The binary map is uncompressed with fixed-size tables (header, content-defined super-groups of groups, content-defined groups of blocks, 10-byte per-block records, with 8-byte hashes at every level). electron-updater fetches the header and super-group table with one Range request, matches super-groups against its cached previous map, fetches only the group entries of the super-groups that changed, matches those groups and fetches only the records of the groups that changed, verifies every hash, then runs the existing block-level plan and download pipeline. If that range fetch fails, it downloads the new map with a plain GET and stays differential. Because the map cost grows with the change rather than with the installer, the stored app.asar region (nsis.differentialPackage: "store-asar", ideally with asar.contentAlignment) uses 512 B / 1 KiB / 2 KiB blocks and a block boundary at every packed file, and the 7z header of a differential-aware package is stored as is (-mhc=off) and chunked into its own small blocks, so a changed CRC no longer re-downloads the trailing block of the package (5–30 KB on every update). Builds that write the JSON map keep packages and block maps byte-for-byte as before. electron-updater tells the formats apart by the file's first bytes, so there is no extra artifact and latest.yml is unchanged. Installs still on electron-updater 6 download the first release with a binary map in full once; the update brings an updater that reads it. A format change between two releases costs the same one-time full download, logged once at info. Block maps embedded in an artifact (AppImage, NSIS web installer packages) stay JSON. A binary .blockmap is uploaded to S3 as application/octet-stream.

  electron-updater additionally downloads through COPY gaps smaller than 8 KiB between two changed ranges on single-range hosts such as GitHub and S3 (one request per range there makes re-downloading a few KiB cheaper than an extra request), only up to 256 B on hosts that serve multipart/byteranges, and caps multipart/byteranges requests at 200 ranges (Apache's MaxRanges default; larger Range headers exceed common 8 KB header limits).

Patch Changes

• Fix(nsis): skip the assisted installer's license page on the first visit in the elevated inner instance only if it was accepted in the outer instance. Keep the license visible when elevation occurs before any pages are shown, and preserve Back navigation. #10377 b66a4e1 — app-builder-lib
• Fix: point the docs links in Bitbucket, Keygen, R2, Spaces and Squirrel.Windows configuration errors at existing sections #10462 4152802 — electron-builder-squirrel-windows, electron-publish
• Fix(rpm): build RPMs without /usr/lib/.build-id links and with v4 package format so output is the same on every build host (#10471) #10472 60ce3ed — app-builder-lib
• Fix(linux): update the default appimage toolset to 1.2.0. Its mksquashfs (squashfs-tools 4.7.5) links a pinned static zstd 1.5.7, so Linux and macOS hosts now build byte-identical AppImages. Explicit toolsets.appimage pins (0.0.0, 1.0.3, 1.1.0) are unchanged #10473 e246f99 — app-builder-lib
• Fix(blockmap): check the app's electron-updater against the electronUpdaterCompatibility of every platform the build targets, instead of passing when any declared range includes it (e.g. win.electronUpdaterCompatibility: ">=6" no longer lets a macOS build with the default >=7 write binary block maps for an app on electron-updater 6). Where the build writes binary block maps (an NSIS installer, a macOS zip target), electron-updater 7.0.0-alpha.0 to 7.0.0-alpha.12, which cannot read them, fail the build; an electron-updater bundled from devDependencies, or from the development package.json of a two package.json project, is checked like one in dependencies. The publish and verify commands, which write no update files, no longer check it against electronUpdaterCompatibility. An NSIS installer with a JSON ("v2") block map no longer reads the asar and 7z archive headers that only the binary ("v3") map uses. #10485 24c9ead — app-builder-lib

Full Changelog: https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/compare/electron-builder@27.0.0-alpha.13...electron-builder@27.0.0-alpha.14