How are software updates installed?
In: Technology
There many different ways to install software updates, but in the spirit of ELI5 I’ll give you a basic example:
1. You install a software app. It has a loader program and a number of components which support or perform all the functions of the app.
2. Whenever you start the app (or periodically in the background), it checks to see if it’s a good time to run its updater component. This might be based on time of day, what other apps are running, and/or how long it’s been since the last time it ran.
3. When the updater runs, it connects to the app’s update server over the Internet and retrieves a small file. The file is basically a manifest of the latest version of the app, including a list of all its components and their version numbers.
4. The updater compares that file with its own manifest. If all the version numbers are identical, it reports that your app is up to date. If not, it downloads all the components that need to be updated.
5. If a component being updated isn’t currently running, it can be replaced immediately. Others will need to be stopped before being replaced. If that cannot be done safely, the application or even the computer itself must be restarted to complete the update.
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