ipfs-desktop

Developer notes

Below are helpful notes for developers hacking on or releasing new versions of IPFS Desktop.

Release checklist

Before cutting a new release of IPFS Desktop, please go through the following process:

Manual testing

Manually test a few things that don’t transfer well to automated testing:

  1. Mac & Windows (both must to be checked): Confirm that drag-and-drop file import works:
    • Open Files screen
    • Drag file(s) into it (PDF, images, or videos)
    • Confirm file(s) import was succesful by clicking on newly imported file to preview
  2. Mac & Windows (one check is sufficient): Confirm that import via Import button works:
    • Open Files screen
    • Click on Import button and select files(s) (directory, or standalone PDF, images, or videos)
    • Confirm file(s) import was succesful by clicking on newly imported file to preview
  3. Mac only: Drag/drop onto menubar icon behaves as expected when dragging one file, several files, and a combination of files/folders:
    • File(s) import correctly
    • Correct link is copied to clipboard
  4. Windows only: Right-click on a file and “Add to IPFS” from context menu works as expected:
    • File(s) import correctly
    • Correct link is copied to clipboard
  5. Mac & Windows (both must to be checked): Confirm that OS-wide protocol handler was registered by opening ipfs://bafybeigdyrzt5sfp7udm7hu76uh7y26nf3efuylqabf3oclgtqy55fbzdi in a stock web browser (Edge, Safari, Google Chrome) without IPFS Companion

Main release process

  1. Update the version using npm version [major|minor|patch] (it will create a new tag vA.B.C, note it down)
  2. Update all links and badges in README.md to point to the new version (A.B.C).
    • You may use ts-node scripts/release/updateReadme.ts <oldVersion> <newVersion> to update the readme. e.g. ts-node scripts/release/updateReadme.ts 0.26.0 0.26.1
      • If you do, confirm everything is updated properly.
  3. Update the latest version commit git add README.md && git commit --amend --no-edit
  4. Publish local changes and the tag to the GitHub repo: git push && git push origin vA.B.C.
  5. Wait for the CI to upload the binaries to the draft release (a new one will be created if you haven’t drafted one).
  6. Publish a release draft.
    • Once a release is published, users should receive the app update (see https://www.electron.build/auto-update for details).
    • The latest.yml, latest-mac.yml, latest-linux.yml files on the release are used by the app to determine when an app update is available.
  7. Update CHANGELOG.md with details from release/release draft.
  8. Update selected package managers:

Manually notarize .dmg with Apple

These steps are only needed as a fallback if CI is not correctly notarizing the .dmg file. For context, see #1365.

  1. Download the .dmg from https://github.com/ipfs-shipyard/ipfs-desktop/releases/vA.B.C.
  2. Ensure APPLEID and APPLEIDPASS are set either as environment variables or entries in .env file. These need to belong to the same org as the certificate used for signing.
  3. Run node pkgs/macos/notarize-cli.js ./IPFS-Desktop-A.B.C.dmg.
  4. Debug errors by calling the tool directly: xcrun altool --notarize-app -f /path/to/IPFS-Desktop-0.X.0.dmg --primary-bundle-id io.ipfs.desktop -u XXX-from-vault-XXX -p XXX-app-specific-password-from-vault-XXX; also, see the long list of hoops Apple may ask you to jump through.
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