Updates

The app can replace itself with a newer version. The “Updates” section of the settings window is the second one, right under “The app itself”.

What it shows

• “Installed version X” — the version running now.
• A status line: “Not checked yet”, “This is the latest version”, “Version Y is available”, “Downloading…”, “Checking the signature…”, “Installing…”, “Version Y is ready. It is installed on restart.” or “The update failed”.
• “Last checked …” — when the app last asked.

Updating

1. Press “Check for updates” — or wait for the automatic check.
2. When a version is found, the release notes appear under it with “Install” and “Skip this version”. Nothing is downloaded until you press “Install”.
3. “Install” downloads the release and checks its signature. The app stays usable while it downloads.
4. When “Restart and update” appears, press it: the app closes, replaces itself with the new version and opens again.

Nothing is replaced until you press “Restart and update”.

The automatic check

The “Check for updates automatically” switch at the bottom of the section. It is on by default and checks every few hours. It only asks — downloading always starts with your button.

When a new version is found, an amber dot appears next to “Settings” in the left-hand list. Updates raise no notification: this is not something to interrupt anybody over.

“Skip this version”

The app stops offering that release, across restarts too. A line stays under the switch — “Version Y is skipped…” — so that it does not read as a check that stopped working. The next release is offered as usual.

Signing

Every release is signed with a key whose public half is built into the app. The app installs only what matches that key: a substituted file will not install, even when it is served from the same address as the real one.

What to know about each platform

• macOS. The app is currently only ad-hoc signed, without an Apple certificate. After an update, macOS may ask you to confirm launching it again — the same way it does on a first install. The update itself goes through.
• Windows. A per-user install updates itself — that is what the installer we publish sets up. An app moved into Program Files by hand cannot replace itself: that needs administrator rights.
• Linux. The unpacked .tar.gz in your home directory updates itself. .deb packages and AppImages installed into system directories are updated by their own tooling.
• The headless server (pourquoipas-server) does not update itself: its settings have no “Updates” section.

Where this is kept

What you picked — whether the automatic check is on, which version is skipped, when it last checked — lives in updates.json in the install directory:

• macOS — ~/Library/Application Support/pourquoipas/updates.json;
• Windows — %AppData%\pourquoipas\updates.json;
• Linux — ~/.config/pourquoipas/updates.json.