feat(update): silent self-update via PackageInstaller session — #2438
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Replaces the ACTION_VIEW + application/vnd.android.package-archive handoff
with a PackageInstaller session, and declares
UPDATE_PACKAGES_WITHOUT_USER_ACTION so the update can land with no confirm
dialog at all.

The platform grants the silent path when the installer opts in via
setRequireUserAction(USER_ACTION_NOT_REQUIRED), the installed app targets
API 29+, the installer holds that permission, and the target is the
installer itself. Minstrel updating Minstrel satisfies all four. Where it
can't be granted — anything pre-S — the platform returns
STATUS_PENDING_USER_ACTION and we show its dialog instead, so this degrades
rather than failing.

Prior art: Mihon, which is out-of-store and self-updating and whose updates
are quiet for exactly this reason. It also confirmed REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES
is not what draws install warnings — Mihon declares it too.

No setRequestUpdateOwnership(true), despite it reading like the obvious
declaration for a self-updater. Ownership can only be claimed on initial
installation (a no-op on update) and additionally wants the privileged
ENFORCE_UPDATE_OWNERSHIP permission. It's an API for app stores claiming the
apps they install.

Also: the install now has an outcome. The old path fired an intent and
assumed, so a failure and a user declining were indistinguishable. Sessions
report back, so InstallOutcome distinguishes Installed / Cancelled / Failed,
and cancelling returns to IDLE rather than showing an error — the user chose
it. DOWNLOADING and INSTALLING became separate stages because the install
half now genuinely waits, and "Downloading…" through a confirm dialog is a
lie.

The FileProvider and res/xml/file_paths.xml are gone. They existed only to
expose the cached APK as a content:// URI for the old intent; a session
takes a stream. Nothing else used that authority.

Two judgement calls worth naming:

- The pending-user-action intent is only launched if it resolves to a system
  component. Below API 34 a dynamically registered receiver can't declare
  itself unexported, so another app can broadcast at us, and an unchecked
  startActivity on an attacker-supplied extra would be an escalation
  primitive. The real confirm activity is a system app, so the check costs
  the legitimate path nothing.
- Cancellation unregisters the receiver but deliberately does NOT abandon the
  session. By then it's committed, and killing an install because the user
  navigated away from the banner misreads their intent.

Untestable here: no androidTest source set and no Robolectric, so the
gesture-level behaviour is operator on-device verification.
This commit is contained in:
2026-08-04 16:19:24 -04:00
parent 8b630e71ca
commit a4b6f22d86
9 changed files with 410 additions and 90 deletions
+14 -9
View File
@@ -8,7 +8,16 @@
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_MEDIA_PLAYBACK" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.POST_NOTIFICATIONS" />
<!-- In-app self-update. REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES lets us hand an APK to the
platform installer at all; UPDATE_PACKAGES_WITHOUT_USER_ACTION (API 31+)
is what lets that install happen with NO confirm dialog. The platform
grants the silent path only when the installer opts in via
SessionParams.setRequireUserAction(USER_ACTION_NOT_REQUIRED), the
installed app targets API 29+, the installer holds this permission, and
the target is the installer itself — all true here, since Minstrel is
updating Minstrel. See update/data/SelfUpdateSession.kt. -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.UPDATE_PACKAGES_WITHOUT_USER_ACTION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_CONNECT" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE" />
@@ -48,15 +57,11 @@
</intent-filter>
</service>
<provider
android:name="androidx.core.content.FileProvider"
android:authorities="${applicationId}.fileprovider"
android:exported="false"
android:grantUriPermissions="true">
<meta-data
android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
android:resource="@xml/file_paths" />
</provider>
<!-- The FileProvider that used to live here existed solely to expose the
downloaded update APK as a content:// URI for the old ACTION_VIEW
install intent. A PackageInstaller session takes a stream instead,
so both the provider and res/xml/file_paths.xml are gone — nothing
else in the app ever used that authority. -->
<!-- On-demand WorkManager initialization: MinstrelApplication
implements Configuration.Provider and supplies the