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Dev Tools & Micro-SaaS Stack Exchange · 2025-01-10

Obtainium for desktop: paste a GitHub link and auto-install updates

桌面端也想要 Obtainium:贴个 GitHub 链接就自动装更新

At a glance · 30-second read
  • WhoStack Exchange · 2025-01-10 · 2 upvotes · 3 replies
  • The askObtainium for desktop: paste a GitHub link and auto-install updates
  • The openingA desktop Obtainium: watch releases, auto-download and install, notify. Open-source client plus paid sync service.

What was actually said

“Obtainium installs and updates apps straight from their releases pages and notifies on new versions — just add a URI. Does a desktop-OS equivalent exist?”

— Stack Exchange · 2025-01-10 · softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/91762/does-…

Background and pain

The pain

Desktop updates mean manually stalking release pages across GitHub/GitLab; anything outside app stores depends on memory.

A buildable angle

The opening

A desktop Obtainium: watch releases, auto-download and install, notify. Open-source client plus paid sync service.

How to validate it

  1. Read the whole thread and note the recurring scenarios — repetition is the density of the need.
  2. Search existing tools around "software updates / desktop" and check which single step they actually cover.
  3. Put up a one-line landing page, share it back to Stack Exchange, and see whether anyone asks about pricing.

Existing options

winget/Scoop各软件自带更新器

From the thread · top comments

Here is one command in Linux which can give you the URL of latest package for particular github repo: curl https://api.github.com/repos/rmcrackan/Libation/releases 2>/dev/null|awk -F\" '/rpm/ && /browser_download_url/ && /amd64/ {print $4; exit}' First we get with curl the list of all released packages (in JSON format) then we filter lines which contain rpm and browser_download_url and amd64 , split lines using as delimiter " and print 4th token/column. And the exit (to show only the first line, newest package) Then you can update the package via command: yum -y localupdate ...... Similar will

— Romeo Ninov · ▲ 1

I see there is still Windows to be addressed in the answers. There is a solution I use for Windows, but it requires Winget ; it is called Winget-AutoUpdate . It does require the app to be submitted to Winget , although I'm not sure if it can be done by someone who is not the developer, otherwise open a GitHub issue. Most of the GitHub-released Windows apps that I use are already there, as an example. After that it is automatically tracked.

— fayezk13 · ▲ 1

Currently, the best equivalent, for UNIX-based OSes, is the CLI-based github.com/marcosnils/bin . Although it also works on Windows, if github.com/Devolutions/UniGetUI/issues/4523 is ever completed, it shall provide a significantly superior user experience. The Original Answer For the majority of Linux-based OSes, the Python + GTK3 release of github.com/PlebOne/autonomix was a near-1:1 equivalent: [1] Features 📦 Track GitHub releases from any repository 🔄 Check for updates with one click ⬇️ Install packages directly ( .deb , .rpm , AppImage, Flatpak, Snap) However, since it was rewritten in

— Roke Julian Lockhart Beedell · ▲ 1
Open the source thread

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