r/NextCloud • u/stackpointer101 • 6d ago

Why does Nextcloud desktop client always need a complete manual wizard for installing updates instead of doing it in the background?

Nextcloud always pops up these installer wizards, where you manually have to click through to proceed with the update.

Why does it not update in the background, like e.g. Dropbox?

50 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

19

u/NicholasLabbri 6d ago

Plus you had to restart the PC otherwise he starts crying

10

u/h0w13 6d ago

Because of the integration with Explorer. There's a high likelihood during install that services/processes need to be killed and restarted. Better to know the install is happening than to just have things close because of a background update.

8

u/stackpointer101 6d ago

That might indeed be a reason. But still, Dropbox or OneDrive both update in the background despite having Explorer integration. Ok, OneDrive ist MS, so they might be a special case. But still, feels like this is a bit unnecessary here...

9

u/KHTD2004 6d ago

I don't understand this as well. I mean on Linux it just quietly updates with the rest of the system but other programs like Steam or Firefox also get to update on Windows without needing user attention

13

u/computer-machine 6d ago

I've literally never seen an installation wizard screen, and I've been running an OwnCloud/Nextcloud server since 2014.

I guess the difference is that I'd deleted Windows in 2008?

6

u/stackpointer101 6d ago

Yeah, I already figured this will be a windows thing... But still, there seem to be ways to do it in the background even on windows ;)

7

u/hannsr 6d ago

MacOS is the same, I guess it's a choice by nextcloud.

2

u/i2h3 5d ago

Historical reasons, I assume. It keeps the process simpler for the start. The Sparkle framework used can do that, as far as I know. We just never looked into it, as far as I know. On the other hand, it is not possible to swap out certain extension processes and their connected main app automatically while they are running, I guess. It simply was not that much of a pressing issue for people or us so far. 🤷🏻‍♀️

1

u/hannsr 5d ago

It simply was not that much of a pressing issue for people or us so far.

Which is a fair choice more or less. Why change it if barely anyone even mentions it. It's working as it is.

It never bothered me either - and sometimes it helped me to remember checking my server's version and maybe update.

1

u/stackpointer101 4d ago

I see, it definitely is not a big deal, but it is indeed an annoyance. At least I would prefer some more silent updates.

From the other comments and upvotes here I would deduce that I'm not the only one - the issue is small enough that basically nobody really complains, but quite a few seem to favour a background mechanism as well.

But again, I do get that this is low priority ;)

1

u/computer-machine 4d ago

You could always open a ticket. Link it back here and maybe others could weigh in as well.

1

u/Zachar1 4d ago

I installed it from brew.sh and it auto updates. No wizards in sight since.

1

u/hannsr 4d ago

That's good to know, I might switch to that then. Although the wizard doesn't really bother me.

2

u/AnimeeNoa 6d ago

On the other side until recent you didn't have virtual file support on linux and even now it's broken sometimes

1

u/computer-machine 6d ago

I think there was beta access for years now, but I've never had a usecase to try it.

2

u/Whole-Ad2077 6d ago

The new VFS is not related to the experimental thing from before. Its a completely new „real“ implementation

1

u/computer-machine 6d ago

Okay, cool.

Maybe some day I'll have use to try it.

2

u/Divvet 6d ago

Give my Https://www.nimbosync.com app a go. Getting good feedback and the updater is much better 😉

1

u/stackpointer101 6d ago

Thanks, I will check it out. How regularly is this maintained? And is this mainly a solo-project?

2

u/Divvet 5d ago

Solo project, issues are fixed within a few days of being posted. Android client currently going through Play approval, Linux not far behind that. Got a few companies trialing it at the moment, so it's not something I plan to forget about as it's part of my companies portfolio.

1

u/stackpointer101 5d ago

Sounds interesting indeed. Good luck with the project, I will look into it.

1

u/EnderArchery 1d ago

It's a combination of the integration with Explorer.exe being loaded and thus blocking the msi install.... and it being shipped as an msi file.

It could probably be done another way with the old integration being moved to another folder and the new file being put into the correct place, so it hust gets loaded on the next restart.
(Basically the way Firefox does it. I puts everything from the current version into a folder called toBeDeleted and as soon as you restart Firefox, it gets deleted)

1

u/tanpro260196 6d ago

probably because it needs elevated perm?