[vlc-devel] Future of the update mechanism

[Rémi Duraffort]

Hello,
>> Why not trying to lower the servers load with next releases ?
>> I suggest using name resolution for checking updates instead of hitting http
>> servers:
>> - My version is 0.9.0 and update sequence is 101.
>> - If there's a new version 102 will exist.
>> - DNS query for update102.updates.videolan.org
>> - if reply is (example) 110.110.110.110 then no update is available
>> - if reply is (example) 111.111.111.111 then query by http for filename (1)
>
> The DNS way sounds very interesting, BUT this imposes the problem that  
> you'd need to carry on the 'old' update list forever. A relatively ugly 
> setup.
>
> But on top of that suggestion, using a DNS TXT record could more or less 
> serve what we look for:
>
> update TXT "<update><item os=windows version=1.0.1  
> filename=vlc-1.0.1.exe link=http://www.videolan.org/mirroredlinkto.exe  
> action=suggestDownload /><item os=openSUSE version=1.0.1  
> link=http://www.videolan.org/suse/readme.html action=ShowReadme  
> /></update>"

I like the idea of using the DNS records to get information about
updates, but you have to keep in mind that you really can't trust the
informations given by the dns (like the file to download). So using the
dns record to know if there is an update or not and then check directly
on the videolan server seems ok.


-- 
Rémi Duraffort | ivoire