# sanbornm/go-selfupdate

Enable your Go applications to self update

Repository: https://github.com/sanbornm/go-selfupdate
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/go-selfupdate
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: go, selfupdate
Last push: 2024-08-17T15:01:54+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4676, "days_push": 746, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1700, forks 185 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:24.228628+00:00)

## What it is
A Go library and CLI utility that enables Go applications to self-update by checking an HTTP(S) endpoint for a JSON update manifest and applying binary diffs or full binaries. It supports Mac, Linux, ARM, and Windows and uses bsdiff for small incremental updates.

## Use cases
- enable my Go CLI to update itself automatically
- ship incremental binary patches to desktop Go apps
- serve app updates from S3 or static hosting
- check for new app version on startup
- distribute cross-platform Go binary updates
- fall back to full binary download when diff fails

## When to choose
- you distribute a Go binary and want Chrome-style self-updates
- you want small incremental updates via bsdiff with SHA-verified fallback
- you want to host updates on static hosting or S3 without a backend

## When to avoid
- you need signed update verification or advanced update channels
- your application is not written in Go
- you need a managed update service with analytics and rollback

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: developer-tools, deployment, cli
- domain: developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: windows, go, cli
- tags: self-update, binary-diffs, bsdiff, go-applications, update-server, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- sanbornm/go-selfupdate (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:24.228628+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:37:46.633376+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/sanbornm/go-selfupdate (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:24.228628+00:00, sha abf60169822b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.