How can I let my application self-update?

Hi,

I have a question about user-software update.

If I write a multimedia player and release it.
Can I let the program automatically check if there is any new release
version?
(Just like WinAMP and RealPlayer will announce users that there is a new
release version)

The question is

  1. How can the client be announced that there is a new release on the
    server?
  2. How can the client download the new release?

I just try to use “rsh” or “rcp” on my network to download program,
but there is something wrong with that.
If I do this, no matter what the current program is, it must download a new
copy from server.
And when I execute “rcp” in other subnet, the rcp can not work properly.

Please tell me how can I make that in QNX.

Thank you.

Philip Lin

Philip,
Typically the software programs like WinAMP and RealPlayer connect to a
patch server and check for the latest version of the software, and compare
it against the current running version on the client machine. If the one on
the server is more recent, it downloads the new file and installs it
(however they handle the installation is up to them). That is typically the
way for a client to know if an update is ready, to check the server for a
new version. This might be as simple as having a file on the server with
the version in it, and the client downloads this file, opens it up, and
compares it with its current version.

The client can download the new release by requesting it from the server.
Something like an HTTP request would work, and not be too difficult to
implement.

Since I’m not fully aware of QNXs technology (there’s still a lot of stuff I
can learn) you might want to see what they’d have to say about this. I
responded with what I might do if I needed to set up a version check system.

R B Adler
“Philip Lin” <philip.lin@streaming21.com> wrote in message
news:8rhgrf$o8s$1@inn.qnx.com

Hi,

I have a question about user-software update.

If I write a multimedia player and release it.
Can I let the program automatically check if there is any new release
version?
(Just like WinAMP and RealPlayer will announce users that there is a new
release version)

The question is

  1. How can the client be announced that there is a new release on the
    server?
  2. How can the client download the new release?

I just try to use “rsh” or “rcp” on my network to download program,
but there is something wrong with that.
If I do this, no matter what the current program is, it must download a
new
copy from server.
And when I execute “rcp” in other subnet, the rcp can not work properly.

Please tell me how can I make that in QNX.

Thank you.

Philip Lin