appcast-brainstorming: Difference between revisions

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<h1>Appcast Brainstorming </h1>
#REDIRECT [[downloads-brainstorming]]
The purpose of this page is to capture software updates practices in the wild, as one effort to codify practices currently used in the automatic update system called Sparkle.
 
__TOC__
 
== Authors ==
 
* [http://factoryjoe.com/ Chris Messina]
* [[User:DenisDefreyne|Denis Defreyne]]
 
== Context ==
 
Sites like [http://iusethis.com iusethis.com], [http://versiontracker.com versiontracker.com], [http://macupdate.com macupdate.com] and [http://download.com download.com] among others should be investigated and documented for object names and attributes.
 
Among common data in a software update changelog are changes or fixes, completed bugs, new features or modified behavior, and known issues. A version number is also typically supplied, but takes on many forms and is not always numeric.
 
Lastly, this work should be seen as compatible with hAtom, possibly as a prelude to a format that could be embedded as the payload of an hfeed object.
 
Work should be carried out on the [[appcast-examples | Appcast Examples]] page.
 
== Sparkle-specific Appcast enhancements ==
 
Sparkle adds a few extra features to appcasts:
 
* External release notes URL: used when the release notes are not included in the appcast itself
* MD5 sums and DSA signatures: used for some extra security
* Advanced version string: Sparkle determines the application version from the enclosure name, which is assumed to be APPNAME_VERSION.zip; the advanced version string allows this convention to be overridden
 
hAppcasts should probably support these features as well.

Latest revision as of 21:48, 5 August 2007