Updates

Midna updates itself. Your terminals keep running through it.

How it works

1. Midna checks for a new version about 5 seconds after it opens, then every 6 hours. Settings › Updates has Check now.

2. When there’s a newer version, midna downloads it in the background and checks it before anything else happens:

   • the download’s SHA-256 matches the one in the update feed
   • the feed entry carries midna’s ed25519 signature
   • the new app’s code signature is valid
   • it’s signed by the same Apple Team ID as the app you’re running

   If any check fails, the update is thrown away.

3. The status bar shows Update ready · restart to apply. Click it, or Restart to apply in Settings › Updates. Quitting midna with an update ready also installs it.

4. Midna swaps the old app for the new one in a single step, so Midna.app is never half old and half new, then relaunches.

5. The new app upgrades midnad in place. Same process, same terminals, same screens and scrollback.

Updates only go forward: midna never installs an older version than the one you have.

Stable and beta

The setting updates.channel picks which releases you get:

• stable (the default): public releases.
• beta: prereleases too, with versions like 0.3.0-beta.1. You get new things earlier, and they may be rougher.

Switch it in Settings › Updates, or:

midna settings set updates.channel beta

Switching back to stable doesn’t downgrade you. You stay on your beta until a stable release comes out that’s newer than it.

Where updates come from

Midna reads its update feed from GitHub Releases:

https://github.com/mrgnhnt96/midna/releases/download/channels/{channel}.json

{channel} is stable or beta. The setting updates.feed_url changes it, and it’s human only: agents can’t point midna somewhere else. Whatever the URL, an update must still carry midna’s signature.

From the CLI

midna updates status    # running and available versions
midna updates check     # check now
midna updates install   # install a downloaded update (asks you, from a terminal)

Installing is human only. From a terminal or an agent, install becomes a needs-you request.

Updating by hand

You can also download the newest DMG from the download page and replace the copy in Applications. Midna’s data and your terminals are kept: the next launch upgrades the daemon in place.