go-update: Build self-updating Go programs

Note

The forked version will fix a few minor bugs and add a few new features (using updates for installs when the executables are't there yet or updating with a file path instead of a reader interface)

Original Package Info

Package update provides functionality to implement secure, self-updating Go programs (or other single-file targets) A program can update itself by replacing its executable file with a new version.

It provides the flexibility to implement different updating user experiences like auto-updating, or manual user-initiated updates. It also boasts advanced features like binary patching and code signing verification.

Example of updating from a URL:

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"

    "github.com/mintoolkit/go-update"
)

func doUpdate(url string) error {
    resp, err := http.Get(url)
    if err != nil {
        return err
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()
    err := update.Apply(resp.Body, update.Options{})
    if err != nil {
        // error handling
    }
    return err
}

Features

• Cross platform support (Windows too!)
• Binary patch application
• Checksum verification
• Code signing verification
• Support for updating arbitrary files

API Compatibility Promises

The master branch of go-update is not guaranteed to have a stable API over time. For any production application, you should vendor your dependency on go-update with a tool like git submodules, gb or govendor.

The go-update package makes the following promises about API compatibility:

1. A list of all API-breaking changes will be documented in this README.
2. go-update will strive for as few API-breaking changes as possible.

License

Apache