Electron Autoupdater with Private GitHub Repository?

Question

I have implemented Electron AutoUpdater with PRIVATE GitHub Repository as provider to publish electron application. Now, i can publish it using GitHub repository but Whenever AutoUpdater tries to download the updates from GitHub repository, Everytime it prompts with response code 404 Not found.. I have tried passing token in setFeedURL method and also set it in GH_TOKEN but seems like that does not work either.

autoUpdater.setFeedURL({ provider: 'github'
, owner: 'owner'
, repo: 'repo-name'
, token: 'token'
, private: true });

So, Is there any way to get it working with PRIVATE GitHub Repository ?

Solution 1

Are you using electron auto-updater module? from the API documentation, I can see that they don't support.

On the other hand, if you are using electron-updater module, make sure that you are following the recommended release workflow, and you should not use setFeedURL check the note here

Updated:

If you are using electron-updater and you are publishing to a private repository, you will need to make sure that your token will be available within the app-update.yml file, that's why many say it's not recommended, if the token is not set in your app-update.yml file you will get 404.

For electron-updater to auto add your token to the app-update.yml file the token should be set within the publish section like the following:

  "publish": [
    {
      "provider": "github",
      "private": true,
      "owner": "<github_owner>",
      "repo": "<repo_name>",
      "token": "<your github token>"
    }
  ],

This will produce a app-update.yml file like the following:

owner: <github_owner>
repo: <repo_name>
provider: github
private: true
token: <your github token>
updaterCacheDirName: electron-updater-private-updater

Check this small video

Here is my code https://github.com/linuxjuggler/electron-auto-update-example check the electron-builder.json file.

Update 2

Based on the note mentioned in the Quick Setup Guide section, you should never call setFeedURL.

Solution 2

Auto-Update - you can see that private github repos works only for very special cases, and they are recommending to have a separate release-only repository to distribute releases so source is locked down, and you can distribute to controlled machines. It is a useful feature since no server is required, but special use case. Also, you can make this work with s3 bucket or some other upgrade servers.

Comments

[CoronaVirus]

Yes i am using electron-updater. referring the workflow mentioned setting GH_TOKEN and private option.but seems it is not available for all the users.

[CoronaVirus]

yeah, Thanks for putting it on front.

[Zaher]

is it hard for you to share the code snippet for the whole update process, not just the setFeedURL one, cause I remember it worked with me when I test it? but to be honest I advise against using it for releasing your code as the final app-update.yml file will contain your GH_TOKEN in plain text, and since this the same key you are using for pushing the release anyone can then use it to release a new version. at least this is what I was thinking about. unless you are releasing it for a private group of users.

[Zaher]

Also when you release your code, what is the tag format you use? as github rely on the fact that your tag should prefixed with v (electron.build/configuration/publish#githuboptions) which is true by default.

[CoronaVirus]

Yes, tag format are prefixed with v. just checked and confirmed. This is how i am checking for updates autoUpdater.checkForUpdates(); autoUpdater.on('checking-for-update', () => { console.log("CHECKING FOR UPDATES !!"); }); and at start of script i am setting that setFeedURL

[CoronaVirus]

i read it works only for release-only github account. i set repository to release-only mode too. that did not work out either.

[Zaher]

I'll create a test project today to remember what I did, and get back to you.

[CoronaVirus]

Yeah it worked for me. somehow release-only repository worked. rest of the configuration was correct as yours. btw .. Great thanks.

[CoronaVirus]

Can we manage somehow target branch name on github to publish ? and targeting any specific branch name to download update from. i want to publish separate release for each environment Dev, QA and PROD based upon some branch strategy. Or any suggestion for this ?

[Zaher]

Am not sure there is a way to do that, as I know the build will be based on the currently active branch, but you might need to read about channels electron.build/tutorials/release-using-channels.html this way each environment will get its own, but again am not sure if this is a perfect solution.

[CoronaVirus]

Oh Man !! is this github private repo is unstable ? I literally changed nothing but this github auto update is again stopped working. 404 NOT FOUND Error: Cannot download "https://api.github.com/repos/owner/repo-name/releases/asset‌​s/assets-number" status 404: Not Found

[Zaher]

You may have hit the limit, electron.build/auto-update#private-github-update-repo , that's why github private is not recommended using S3 or something similar might be a better option that you should check.

[Chris Hayes]

Just to add to this, a public S3 bucket or a release-only repo are the most sane options. The answer marked as correct suggests putting the GitHub token in the repo, which I wouldn't recommend considering anyone with that token can read/write any GitHub repo on that account (that token is shipping with the client!). Nuts used to be a popular proxy server, but it hasn't been maintained, and I haven't found a fork that functions anymore.

[Admin]

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