Updates
Kubermeister checks its GitHub releases for new versions. On macOS, Windows and the Linux AppImage
it can download and install one itself. A .deb or .rpm install cannot: see the .deb and the .rpm.
Set in Settings › Updates › Automatic updates, under When a new version is found:
- Download in the background (the default) — a version that is found downloads straight away and installs when you quit. You are not asked first; the pill goes straight to Downloading.
- Notify me and let me choose — you are told a version exists, and it downloads when you press Update.
- Never check automatically — no scheduled checks. A check you start from Settings, the menu or the command palette still runs.
The download default is deliberate. The app releases often and installs on quit, so a version waiting on a click is a fix that never lands.
Nothing downloads on its own before the mode is read, and the mode is read at the moment a version is found, so choosing Notify me and let me choose genuinely prevents the download rather than hiding it, and a change takes effect without a restart.
A downloaded version installs the next time the app quits, or at once with Restart now.
Scheduling
Section titled “Scheduling”The first check runs 15 seconds after launch, then at the interval set under Check for new versions: Every hour, Every 4 hours (the default), Every 12 hours or Once a day. Changing the interval reschedules the next check from now; saving any other setting never pushes it out.
A scheduled check that fails is recorded quietly: it never becomes a notification or a pill. The Update status card in Settings › Updates shows “Update check failed.” with the reason, and you find out when you go looking. A check you started yourself that fails does show, as Update failed.
Where you see it
Section titled “Where you see it”The pill in the top bar appears only when there is something to act on:
| Pill | Popover offers |
|---|---|
| Update available | Update and What’s new |
| Downloading N% | a progress bar, the size (“8.2 MB of 12.4 MB”) and What’s new |
| Restart to update | Restart now and What’s new |
| Update failed | Try again and Dismiss |
The size shown while downloading is what this download fetches, which for a differential update is the size of the change rather than of the installer.
A toast appears once per version when a version is found under Notify me and let me choose (with Update) and when a download is ready (with Restart). Progress, errors and “up to date” never toast.
The Update status card in Settings › Updates shows the same state in words, with Check for updates, and Download update or Restart now when either applies.
Check for updates in the command palette runs a check and opens Settings › Updates, where the outcome shows.
Check for Updates… in the menu — Kubermeister › Check for Updates… on macOS, File › Check for Updates… on Windows and Linux — runs a check and answers in native dialogs rather than the interface. The pill and Settings exist only once the window has finished loading; the menu still works when it has not, so a broken install always has a way to the fix.
- A found version: Download, Release Notes and Later. After a download, you are asked again when it is ready.
- A downloaded version: Restart Now and Later, which installs it when you quit.
- Up to date, or a failure (“Kubermeister could not check for updates.”): OK.
The .deb and the .rpm
Section titled “The .deb and the .rpm”A .deb or .rpm belongs to your package manager, and an app that overwrote its own files would leave the
package database describing something else. So such an install never downloads or installs a new
version. It reads the release feed to learn one exists, and then:
- the pill reads Update available, and its popover and the Update status card say “This package is managed by the system, so the new version is installed the same way as this one.”;
- the one action is Get the update, which opens that version’s release page, where you download the new package and install it as you did the first;
- the menu’s dialog offers Release Notes and OK, with no Download.
The modes and the schedule apply as they do elsewhere; only the installing is left to you. The AppImage is not affected, and updates itself.
Release notes
Section titled “Release notes”The app shows none. Generated release notes are a list of pull-request titles, too long for a popover and already rendered properly on the release page — so the app gives the version and its date, and What’s new and the dialog’s Release Notes open that version’s release page in your browser.
What a release actually changed for you is in the changelog, which is written by hand.
Development builds
Section titled “Development builds”A build you run from source has no release feed to check against. Settings reads “In-app updates are unavailable here.” with “Development build”, and the menu’s dialog says “This build cannot check for updates.”