Use Clowd.Squirrel also for app plugins

[StefanKoell]

Hi!

is there an easy/recommended way how to use Squirrel not only for the main app distribution but also for plugins that application might offer? In my app a plugin is basically a directory containing assemblies, resources and dependencies which are dynamically loaded on app startup.

[caesay]

There's currently not an easy way to do this as the required methods/configuration is internal. I'll leave this issue open and have a think about how we could expose more granular/customisable update functionality in a future update.

[StefanKoell]

Thanks for the speedy response. I think this would be a great addition although it's not a showstopper. I already have a working system, I just thought it would be a good fit and maybe can use Squirrel all the way.

My current system has two "features" or behaviors which may also be needed in case Squirrel gets love in this area:

• A minimum "host" version to ensure a plugin version is only offered/installed if the min. host version is installed/used
• Ability to manually upgrade/downgrade individual plugins

If there's something I can contribute, let me know.

[caesay]

I don't envision Squirrel providing your two requirements directly.

Indirectly, the functions to list remote versions (IUpdateSource), and to update to a specific version already exist. How you want to use these to allow conditional upgrading is up to you. The functionality I'm considering exposing at the moment would be more control around the folder structures used. You could point UpdateManager at your plugin directory, tell it what you want the folder to look like, give it a remote url to check for plugin updates and fire it off. As far as Squirrel is concerned, every plugin would just be a unique application with a custom folder configuration.

Most of the above is possible already in v3, it's just internal.

Downgrading to older versions is currently not supported, that should probably be opened as a separate issue.

[StefanKoell]

That makes sense. I guess, "uninstalling" a plugin would be easy by just deleting the plugin directory and when I have all available versions, this would make a "downgrade" also easy by just uninstalling the plugin and installing a specific version.

I guess the only thing I'm not sure how to solve using the present logic is how to find out which plugin is suitable for which host version. Is there a way to provide/enclose additional metadata in an app/plugin which could help with that when processing the remote versions using IUpdateSource?

[caesay]

Not currently planned