Eric Seidel
139 lines
6.1 KiB
Markdown
139 lines
6.1 KiB
Markdown
# FAQ
|
|
|
|
Maintained by @eseidel
|
|
|
|
If you have questions not answered here, please ask (either by filing an issue
|
|
or asking on [Discord](https://discord.gg/9hKJcWGcaB)).
|
|
|
|
### What is "code push"?
|
|
|
|
Code push, also referred to as "over the air updates" (OTA) is a cloud service
|
|
we are building to enable Flutter developers to deploy updates directly to
|
|
devices anywhere they have shipped Flutter. We've currently shown demos using
|
|
Android, but since it's built with Flutter/Dart (and Rust) it will work anywhere
|
|
Flutter works.
|
|
|
|
The easiest way to see is to watch the [demo
|
|
video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmKvs0_Zu14&ab_channel=Shorebird).
|
|
|
|
Code push is a working title. We'll probably come up with some name to help
|
|
differentiate it. "Code Push" is a reference to the name of a deploy feature
|
|
used by the React Native community from [Microsoft](https://appcenter.ms) and
|
|
[Expo](https://expo.dev), neither of which support Flutter.
|
|
|
|
### How do I use/install Shorebird?
|
|
|
|
As of March 16th, 2023, unless you're part of the trusted tester group, there
|
|
isn't anything to use or install at this time. We're focused on making sure
|
|
a small group of users is successful with the product before opening it up
|
|
to general availability (targeting April 2023).
|
|
|
|
If you'd like to become part of the trusted testing group, please join our
|
|
mailinglist (linked from shorebird.dev) we send information on how to join there.
|
|
|
|
### What is the status of code push?
|
|
|
|
As of March 13th, 2023 we have a basic serving architecture in production and
|
|
built out enough to service multiple simultaneous customers. We've also
|
|
validated basic on-device support. We're working towards issuing our first
|
|
API keys by March 20th as part of a trusted-tester program. We have an ~80%
|
|
confidence on that date.
|
|
You can watch our [March 13th demo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ9fa-kob_U).
|
|
|
|
As of March 4th, 2023 we've built [a
|
|
demo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmKvs0_Zu14&ab_channel=Shorebird) and have
|
|
the prototype working on multiple machines and Android phones.
|
|
|
|
### What is the roadmap?
|
|
|
|
First we're trying to get something working into user's hands. You can follow
|
|
our day-to-day progress on our project board:
|
|
https://github.com/orgs/shorebirdtech/projects/1/views/1
|
|
|
|
Eric intends to send out a survey to the mailing list on March 17th from which
|
|
we will select the first participants in our trusted tester program beginning
|
|
March 20th. You can sign-up at [shorebird.dev](https://shorebird.dev) -- and
|
|
[Discord](https://discord.gg/9hKJcWGcaB).
|
|
|
|
### How does this relate to Firebase Remote Config or Launch Darkly?
|
|
|
|
Code push allows adding new code / replacing code on the device. Firebase
|
|
Remote Config and Launch Darkly are both configuration systems. They allow you
|
|
to change the configuration of your app without having to ship a new version.
|
|
They are not intended to replace code.
|
|
|
|
### How big of a dependency footprint does this add?
|
|
|
|
We don't know yet. We expect the code push library to add less than one
|
|
megabyte to Flutter apps.
|
|
|
|
|
|
### How does this relate to Flutter Hot Reload?
|
|
|
|
Flutter's Hot reload is a development-time-only feature. Code push is for
|
|
production.
|
|
|
|
Hot reload is a feature of Flutter that allows you to change code on the device
|
|
during development. It requires building the Flutter engine with a debug-mode
|
|
Dart VM which includes a just-in-time (JIT) Dart compiler.
|
|
|
|
Code push is a feature that allows you to change code on the device in
|
|
production. We will use a variety of different techniques to make this possible
|
|
depending on the platform. Current demos execute ahead-of-time compiled Dart
|
|
code and do not require a JIT Dart compiler.
|
|
|
|
### Does this support Flutter Web?
|
|
|
|
Code push isn't needed for Flutter web as the web already works this way. When
|
|
a user opens a web app it downloads the latest version from the server if
|
|
needed.
|
|
|
|
If you have a use case for code push with Fluter web, we'd love to know!
|
|
|
|
### Will this work on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, etc?
|
|
|
|
Yes.
|
|
|
|
So far we've been using Android for our demos, but code push will eventually
|
|
work everywhere Flutter works. We're focusing on building out the infrastructure
|
|
needed to provide code push reliably, safely first before targeting any specific
|
|
platform.
|
|
|
|
There are different technical restrictions on some platforms (e.g. iOS) relative
|
|
to Android, but we have several approaches we can use to solve them (Dart is an
|
|
incredibly flexible language).
|
|
|
|
### How does this relate to the App/Play Store review process or policies?
|
|
|
|
Developers are bound by their agreements with store providers when they choose
|
|
to use those stores. Code push is designed to allow developers to update their
|
|
apps and still comply with store policies on iOS and Android. Similar to the
|
|
variety of commercial products available to do so with React Native (e.g.
|
|
[Microsoft](https://appcenter.ms), [Expo](https://expo.dev)).
|
|
|
|
We will include more instructions and guidelines about how to both use code push
|
|
and comply with store guidelines as we get closer to a public launch.
|
|
|
|
### Does code push require the internet to work?
|
|
|
|
Yes. One could imagine running a server to distribute the updates separately
|
|
from the general internet, but some form of network connectivity is required to
|
|
transport updates to the devices.
|
|
|
|
|
|
### What happens if a user doesn't update for a long time and misses an update?
|
|
|
|
Our current designs for code push send the current app version & code signature
|
|
as part of the update request. Thus the update server could be written to
|
|
respond with either the next incremental version or the latest version depending
|
|
on your application's needs. The current demo always sends the latest version
|
|
but this logic would not be hard to add.
|
|
|
|
### Why are some parts of the code push library written in Rust?
|
|
|
|
Parts of the code push ("updater") system are written in Rust:
|
|
1. Avoids starting two Dart VMs (one for the updater and one for the app).
|
|
2. Allows accessing the updater code from multiple languages (e.g. both the C++ engine as well as a Dart/Flutter application, or even Kotlin/Swift "native" code if needed)
|
|
|
|
See our [Languages Philosophy](https://github.com/shorebirdtech/handbook/blob/main/engineering.md#languages) for more information as to why we chose Rust.
|