Signal-desktop: Allow manual checking for updates

[scienmind]

• [X] I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates

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Bug description

No ability to "force" update check

Request: Add functionality to perform a check for updated versions by user request
(via "Help->Check for updates" or a button in the "about" window)

Platform info

Operating System: Win10 x64

Signal version: 1.0.36

[ckujau]

Can this RFE be extended to _disable_ (not check for) updates altogether? Signal Desktop is installed and updated via homebrew-cask on my machine.

Also (but this may even be material for a real bug) the "An update is ready to install" dialog is somehow using a lot of CPU cycles. So every few hours I notice the fan starting up and I know there's a Signal update dialog window somewhere on my desktop :)

[scottnonnenberg]

@ckujau It's probably using a good bit of CPU because it's downloading and verifying the app signature right before the dialog shows. Why do you install via homebrew, BTW?

[ckujau]

The CPU usage is not going away until I click the "Cancel" button. Something is spinning in there, haven't looked into it. But this would go away if I could disable "check for updates" :)

Being on a Mac, that's the best binary package manager I could find and I try to install all my GUI programs via Homebrew, it's easier to update all installed programs at once, administratively. This way, users on this machine don't need an administrator account but an admin account takes care of the application updates.

[ckujau]

This is still happening on a freshly installed macOS 10.11.6 and Signal Beta v1.15.0-beta.6, again installed via Homebrew/Cask. I love the whole concept of Linux _package managers_, I miss them in Windows and I like the fact that a usable and maintained package manager for macOS exists.

Other software packages have the option to enable or disable automatic updates. I realize that every additional settings-knob should be carefully evaluated, but omitting it in Signal means unnecessary and _repeating_ prompts:

The backdrop here is the activity manager and may be material for another bug report: while the _Update_ prompt is running, Signal is using (more than) 100% CPU time, maybe the spindump helps figuring out why that is. The high CPU usage does not seem to result from "downloading and verifying the app signature", as the CPU usage never goes down - and when one is away from the keyboard, the CPU will be at 100% for hours to come. Only clicking _Cancel_ makes it stop.

That all could be avoided if one could disable automatic updates :-) The _default_ should be _enabled_, of course.

[scottnonnenberg-signal]

@ckujau That is not our standard 'new update is available' dialog we show. That's something special you're seeing, potentially because you're on an older build of MacOS, or because you're not an administrator. What else can you tell me about your setup?

[ckujau]

That's correct, I am not logged in as the administrator. That's one of the key points why I install software via a package manager: the administrator is able to install and update packages and the users will not be able to alter these installed packages. Thus, for every "update" prompt I would have to go to the computer and type in the administrator password, but I'd like to avoid this.

The (shortened) process table for the Signal process looks as follows:

  UID   PID  PPID   C STIME   TTY           TIME CMD
  502 34180     1   0 12:24AM ??         0:47.44 /Applications/BrewBundle/Signal Beta.app/Contents/MacOS/Signal Beta
  502 34181 34180   0 12:24AM ??         0:12.04 /Applications/BrewBundle/Signal Beta.app/Contents/Frameworks/Signal Beta Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Signal Beta Helper --type=renderer[...]
  502 34187     1   0 12:25AM ??         0:00.29 /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/MachServices/SecurityAgent.bundle/Contents/MacOS/SecurityAgent

The SecurityAgent is displaying the "An update is ready to install" overlay seen above, and causing the CPU spikes. Once I provide the administrator login credentials, it's replaced with the standard Signal update notification and the CPU spike goes away:

I can't update this MacBook to a newer version of macOS because 10.11 is the last supported version :-\

[yb66]

I also do not run my main account as an administrator, so I second this move. I noticed that today's update (I'm here because it went wrong) followed a slightly different procedure:

1. The ask-for-admin-credentials dialog pops up. This is usual.
2. Inside of Signal there was a green area in the contacts list on the left asking for a restart.

The dialog popping up is vexing, and is a consequence of Signal automatically updating. Not running your day to day account as admin is best practice and, as a fellow developer, I thought it was best practice to develop, test, build and deploy on least privilege to make sure it all works properly.

If the restart dialog prompt can be moved to the contacts list then I see no reason why there couldn't be a prompt to download a new update put there too and save those of us following best practice security procedure an unnecessary annoyance. It would at least be a step towards a manual update switch.

Basically, if you're not in control of updates on your computer then you're not in control of your computer. That seems to defeat Signal's central reason for being.

I agree with virtually everything in the linked, to my mind prematurely, locked thread linked above (#2062).

Regards,
iain

[Sethur]

FYI: For everybody stumbling on this thread who is as unhappy as I with the fact that the frequent automatic updates still cannot be switched to manual, the new URL that is queried is now when there is a check for updates is updates2.signal.org (previously it was just updates.signal.org), so add this to your hosts-file if you want to block them:

0.0.0.0 updates2.signal.org