How we ship GitHub for Windows (opens in new tab)

(github.com)

91 pointsEmpro13y ago22 comments

22 comments

17 comments · 7 top-level

j_s13y ago· 3 in thread

I would be far more interested in how the auto-update process works rather than hearing that someone automated their build. Would be way-crazy-awesome if they could pull it out and release it open source, but they seem to be leaning on it as a pretty serious part of their secret sauce.

xpaulbettsx13y ago

Here's how we do it:

https://gist.github.com/3777989

The only other "Secret Sauce" is that you have to disable checking for updates at startup in the ClickOnce settings.

HarshaThota13y ago

They are currently using ClickOnce for the auto-update mechanism but you may find these interesting:

https://github.com/github/Shimmer

https://github.com/synhershko/NAppUpdate

j_s13y ago

Thanks. I haven't looked at ClickOnce in a long time, interesting to hear it is a viable solution for commercial apps. For example, did not know it could update in the background for next run of the app.

1 more reply

jimbobimbo13y ago· 2 in thread

My favorite part of the manual description is step 7 onwards: switch to another machine to upload compiled package, really!?

And yeah - great job, Adam! If someone still building and deploying desktop applications manually - they are doing it wrong. Since when Visual Studio switched to MSBuild (read: ages), build automation is _very_ easy on Windows.

xpaulbettsx13y ago

Yuuuuup. Transmit.app is the only app I knew of that would let you set MIME types on upload, which is required by ClickOnce. That being said, I didn't look very hard.

callumjones13y ago

Could something like CloudBerry's S3 PowerShell snap-in set the MIME type?

http://www.cloudberrylab.com/default.aspx?page=amazon-s3-pow...

funkiee13y ago· 2 in thread

I can't seem to find the source anywhere on GitHub for "GitHub for Windows". I work on a build team (Mostly MSBuild but transitioning to Workflow builds in the future) so I'm always interested in seeing everyone's Build and Deploy scripts.

stack0v3erfl0w13y ago

GitHub for Windows is not open source.

skeletonjelly13y ago

Can you expand on what you mean by "Workflow builds"?

onetwothreefour13y ago· 2 in thread

Pretty much par for the course of releasing any Windows app. :)

But a good overview none the less.

MartinCron13y ago

You're saying that one release per week is par for the course for a Windows app? Sounds like you're selling the GitHub team short.

onetwothreefour13y ago

There's nothing novel about automating builds or pushing them out and letting an auto updater deal with them.

This is par for the course. Welcome to software 101.

They ship once a week? Great. What does that actually tell you? Almost nothing. We know nothing of why they're shipping once a week. It's not relevant, because it's not a metric that matters.

2 more replies

ohdios13y ago· 1 in thread

I have a paid GitHub subscription, and this is the first I've heard of GitHub for Windows.

skeletonjelly13y ago

It got fairly big attention here, and every Github page I visit has a button to launch a clone via Github for Windows. Can't remember if an email was sent out though.

VeejayRampay13y ago

The Windows app for Github is pretty spectacular. Simple, beautiful and to-the-point.

draebek13y ago

I don't see anything in the automated release script's output about the "sanity test on XP and Vista VMs" steps? Is that still manual?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

22 comments

17 comments · 7 top-level

j_s13y ago· 3 in thread

xpaulbettsx13y ago

Here's how we do it:

https://gist.github.com/3777989

The only other "Secret Sauce" is that you have to disable checking for updates at startup in the ClickOnce settings.

HarshaThota13y ago

They are currently using ClickOnce for the auto-update mechanism but you may find these interesting:

https://github.com/github/Shimmer

https://github.com/synhershko/NAppUpdate

j_s13y ago

1 more reply

jimbobimbo13y ago· 2 in thread

My favorite part of the manual description is step 7 onwards: switch to another machine to upload compiled package, really!?

xpaulbettsx13y ago

Yuuuuup. Transmit.app is the only app I knew of that would let you set MIME types on upload, which is required by ClickOnce. That being said, I didn't look very hard.

callumjones13y ago

Could something like CloudBerry's S3 PowerShell snap-in set the MIME type?

http://www.cloudberrylab.com/default.aspx?page=amazon-s3-pow...

funkiee13y ago· 2 in thread

stack0v3erfl0w13y ago

GitHub for Windows is not open source.

skeletonjelly13y ago

Can you expand on what you mean by "Workflow builds"?

onetwothreefour13y ago· 2 in thread

Pretty much par for the course of releasing any Windows app. :)

But a good overview none the less.

MartinCron13y ago

You're saying that one release per week is par for the course for a Windows app? Sounds like you're selling the GitHub team short.

onetwothreefour13y ago

There's nothing novel about automating builds or pushing them out and letting an auto updater deal with them.

This is par for the course. Welcome to software 101.

They ship once a week? Great. What does that actually tell you? Almost nothing. We know nothing of why they're shipping once a week. It's not relevant, because it's not a metric that matters.

2 more replies

ohdios13y ago· 1 in thread

I have a paid GitHub subscription, and this is the first I've heard of GitHub for Windows.

skeletonjelly13y ago

It got fairly big attention here, and every Github page I visit has a button to launch a clone via Github for Windows. Can't remember if an email was sent out though.

VeejayRampay13y ago

The Windows app for Github is pretty spectacular. Simple, beautiful and to-the-point.

draebek13y ago

I don't see anything in the automated release script's output about the "sanity test on XP and Vista VMs" steps? Is that still manual?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse