Offline update does not work with an alone catch-all file

I use Automatic Updater 2.6.18 and wyBuild to create update packages. I followed tutorials on integration of AU in my application and updating works fine, when it is done online.

I want also to allow users to make updates offline on computer without the internet connection. For testing purpose I built a catch-all update for the newest application version, lets say 1.1, with wyBuild.

Then I placed the catch-all file to a separate folder together with a fresh server wys file. So, the folder contain only two files. In the application 1.0 I run wyUpdate.exe with the following command line string:wyUpdate.exe server=file:///D:/temp/wyserver.wys -updatepath=file:///d:/temp/1

The wyUpdate dialog appears and says that a new version is found, which is correct. When I click the update button, wyUpdate immediately returns The update failed to download error with the following details:Error trying to save file: Error downloading file:///D:/temp/app1.0.to1.1.wyu: Could not find file d:\temp\app1.0.to.1.1.wyu

As I understood wyUpdate looks for a patch wyu file, instead of picking up the catch-all update directly. If I add the patch file, app1.0.to.1.1.wyu, to the same folder, a updating process starts normally. However, I would like to provide offline updates for any application version with a single catch-all file. Can this be done and my issue fixed?

Thanks in advance!

However, I would like to provide offline updates for any application version with a single catch-all file. Can this be done and my issue fixed?

If you want to do that, then you got to do things differently. Namely, you want be able to make patches anymore (because you want to generate 1 update file). So only have 1 version in wyBuild. Never have anymore than 1 version in wyBuild.

Of course when you do that you lose the patching ability (because wyBuild won't know there are other versions, and thus old files will stick around long after they've been removed from your product).

Does that make sense?

Hi Wyatt,

Thank you for quick reply! The 'no-version' solution would be very inconvenient, because I would like to keep online patching with versions and small update files, as the main updating mechanism. There is a small fraction of application users, however, that may need to do offline updates anyway. Without the internet connection they can not check versions automatically. That is why it would be very convenient to have a single catch-all update file that users of any app's version can download and bring to an offline computer.

In this forum thread (on a similar issue)https://wyday.com/forum/t/253/feature-request-offline-install-solely-from-all-to-xxx-wyu/your college Sam mentioned that wyUpdate 2.7 will deliver a easier offline updating. I would like to ask, when 2.7 is expected to be released and would it allow a solution for my scenario?

I would like to ask, when 2.7 is expected to be released

We're working on it. No hard date.

and would it allow a solution for my scenario?

Yes, via the installer option. That is, your user that wants "offline updates" will download the installer that you build from wyBuild and uses that to upgrade the software. Right now we recommend using 3rd party installers (WiX, Inno Setup, or NSIS), so just build an installer from one of those and distribute that for cutomers that want "offline updates".

Hi Sam,

We may have lost that main point in this thread. What I am trying to say is that the current off-line update option is very inconvenient in many scenarios. Even when a user knows his application version, he has to download all current wyu files on my server, including "xxx.to.new.wyu" and "all.to.new.wyu", and then carry them to an off-line computer. Neither of these two files will work alone, which appears to be very counter intuitive for me (and for my users). I would suggest to implement off-line updating with a single file (e.g. a zip package), which can be optionally formed by wyBuild. If you foresee difficulties with version control, such package may simply contain "all.to.new" patch (a size of downloaded files is not an problem in my scenario). This will be a way better than forcing user to reinstall the application, as you suggested above. Thank for in advance for considering this.

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