Require suggestions on feature #5766

Hi Dave/Team,

I am currently working on the auto-update feature of pgAdmin 4 desktop
application, #5766 <https://github.com/pgadmin-org/pgadmin4/issues/5766>.

As we are using Electron for shipping our desktop application, I have gone
through some possible ways we can implement the auto update of the app.

I found 2 most popular ways, that are

1. *Use builtin electron’s autoUpdater* (Uses the Squirrel framework &
Available for Mac, Windows)
2. *Use electron-builder and electron-updater packages *(Available for
Mac, Windows and Linux systems)

*Linux systems:*

- Builtin Electron’s autoUpdater support is not available.
- electron-builder and electron-updater can be used, but need to change
the whole build process. Also most apps like VS code, Chrome, etc does not
support auto-update of apps on linux systems.

*Mac systems:*

- We can use the builtin Electron’s autoUpdater to add auto-update
feature to macOs systems, It is simple and easy to configure. We need a
minor modification in our build process i.e. as we are supporting Intel and
Apple silicon chips, deployment url will have 2 zip files and each zip file
will hold the build for arm64 and x86_64.
- electron-builder and electron-updater can be used. With this, we have
to change the whole build process.

*Windows systems:*

- We can use the builtin Electron’s autoUpdater to add auto-update
feature to windows systems, Here also we need to change our build process.
Electron’s docs recommend using electron-winstaller or electron forge to
create the installer and some extra changes are needed in the deployment
server.
- electron-builder and electron-updater can be used. With this, we have
to change the whole build process.

As Electron's builtin autoUpdater is easy to use so for now we can move
with the auto-update of the pgAdmin app on macOs systems as it requires
minimal changes.

Please share your suggestions or feedback.

Thanks,

Anil

--

*Anil Sahoo*

Software Development Engineer II

LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/in/anilksahoo9/> || Blog
<https://www.enterprisedb.com/anil-sahoo> || *GitHub
<https://github.com/anilsahoo20>*

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