Throttle downloads or reduce download size

[jromero2k]

• I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates

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Bug Description

The user experience with Signal Desktop's update system is very bad, at least in macOS.

1. Unlike Android or iOS, where I can decide when to update, Signal in macOS updates automatically and as soon as there is a new version, sometimes several times a day

2. There is no option to throttle the updates to (let's say) once a week or a month, after all the regressions and small issues have been corrected. Allowing to just pause updates until the app refuses to work (as can be done in mobile), would be best :)

3. There is no option to select an update schedule, in order to use bandwidth only when it's cheaper

4. The updates consist of downloading the whole f***ing Electron package, instead of a patch from the previous installed version

5. Worse, the updates don't even resume if a download is interrupted (it seems, given the bandwidth consumed)

I understand y'all live in beautiful countries where the Internet is basically free, but having to pay a $10 to $15 "tax" every month because you can't be bothered is not right. Besides, there's better use for those $10 than paying a telco monopoly.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Keep Signal Desktop running

Actual Result:

2. Verify Signal Desktop is using at least ~130mb every time there's a new release (if everything goes well, and the updater doesn't get interrupted.. on a bad day it can easily consume 1GB while retrying)

Expected Result:

2. Cost-friendly updates (and when needed)

Screenshots

Platform Info

Signal Version: 1.34.3

Operating System: macOS 10.14 (Mojave)

Linked Device Version: Not pertinent

Link to Debug Log

[Yorgh]

Hi Jorge,

You may use Homebrew with your Mac.
You should not use any application using an account with administrative permissions.
In this case, Signal will fail to automatically update. It will generate popups sometimes until you will deploy the update using commandlines with Homebrew with an administrative account. The brew update comes generally less than 10 hours than the one delivered by the Signal team.
You may then try to automate it (brew cask upgrade signal) to push the update whenever you want.
Hope this help.
++

[make-github-pseudonymous-again]

@Yorgh Thanks for suggesting using homebrew. I think that is the solution I will implement for my particular problem.

However I think @jromero2k's point is valid. We cannot assume everybody uses homebrew or some other package manager. The desktop app could cache the update download. I assume there is some kind of integrity check that happens just before proceeding with the update so external programs should not be able to tamper with the downloaded content, if saved on the file system, without raising a flag.

PS: I have the same problem with the desktop app for slack. Using homebrew should fix it too. Is there some generic electron app update mechanism hiding behind this similarity?

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.