Sparkle (software)

{{Infobox software

| name = Sparkle

| logo = Sparkle.png

| screenshot = Sparkle Test App Software Update.png

| caption = Sparkle's Test App showing a software update window

| collapsible =

| author = Andy Matuschak

| developer = Sparkle Project (2014–present)

| released = {{start date|2006|01|09}}

| discontinued =

| latest release version = 2.6.0

| latest release date = {{start date and age|2024|03|15}}

| latest preview version =

| latest preview date =

| programming language = Objective-C, Swift

| operating system = macOS

| platform =

| size =

| genre = Software update

| license = MIT License

| website = {{URL|http://sparkle-project.org}}

}}

Sparkle is an open-source software framework for macOS designed to simplify updating software for the end user of a program. Sparkle's primary means of distributing updates is through "appcasting," a term coined for the practice of using an RSS enclosure to distribute updates and release notes.

History

Sparkle 0.1 (beta) was released in January 2006 by Andy Matuschak to provide apps "instant self-update" functionality, which very few applications had at the time.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qG2Bb4JtfwgC&pg=PA9 |pages=9–10 |title=Mac OS X Snow Leopard for Power Users |author=Scott Granneman |year=2010 |isbn=9781430230311 |publisher=Apress}}

In August 2009, Sparkle added support for delta updates for installing smaller and faster incremental updates. This was first used to update WebKit's nightly builds.{{cite web |website=Engadget |title=WebKit adds some Sparkle |url=https://www.engadget.com/2009-01-13-webkit-adds-some-sparkle.html |author=Brett Terpstra |date=13 January 2009 |access-date=1 April 2024}}

In 2016, Radek discovered a man-in-the-middle attack vulnerability in applications that use Sparkle to receive updates through an unencrypted channel.{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/02/huge-number-of-mac-apps-vulnerable-to-hijacking-and-a-fix-is-elusive/ |website=Ars Technica |title="Huge" number of Mac apps vulnerable to hijacking, and a fix is elusive |author=Dan Goodin |date=2 September 2016 |access-date=29 March 2024}}

References

External links

[http://sparkle-project.org/ Sparkle homepage]
[https://github.com/sparkle-project Sparkle development page] at GitHub
[http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/20366/sparkle Sparkle] at MacUpdate

Category:MacOS programming tools

Category:Patch utilities

Category:Software using the MIT license