Getting ODE Desktop to Mac, Windows and Linux users

Development
1

Hi all,

I’ve been looking at how we get ODE Desktop (v1.4.0, built with Tauri v2) into the hands of Mac, Windows and Linux users. I’d like your opinions on the plan below before we commit to it.

Where we are today

Our CI (.github/workflows/ode-desktop.yml) already builds installers for six targets and attaches them to GitHub Releases:

  • Windows (amd64 and arm64): .msi and .exe
  • macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon): .dmg
  • Linux (amd64 and arm64): .AppImage, .deb and .rpm

The build pipeline is in place. What’s missing is the signing and publishing layer.

Proposed approach: direct distribution rather than app stores

macOS

  • Sign and notarize the .dmg with a Developer ID certificate, and distribute it from GitHub Releases and our website.
  • I’d avoid the Mac App Store for now, for two reasons:
    • It requires App Sandbox, and ODE Desktop’s design is built around a user-chosen workspace folder that gets reopened on every launch. A sandboxed build loses access to that folder after each relaunch unless we rebuild file access around security-scoped bookmarks. Tauri doesn’t support this natively yet (tauri#3716).
    • Workbench downloads app bundles from Synkronus and runs their HTML and JS in a WebView. That is the pattern Apple’s guideline 2.5.2 (downloaded code) tends to reject. A Data-mode-only build might get through, but it would mean maintaining a reduced variant.

Windows

  • Publish through winget (the Windows Package Manager community repository). It needs no store account, just a manifest pointing at our GitHub Release installer.
  • Sign the installer with a code-signing certificate so users don’t get the SmartScreen “Unknown publisher” warning. This is a paid certificate (OV or EV).
  • The Microsoft Store is an optional extra. Tauri doesn’t produce MSIX, so we’d list our existing installer with silent-install flags and an offline WebView2 installer. We’d also need to ship every release through the Store, since we have no auto-updater.

Linux

  • There’s no single official store, so I’d keep the AppImage, .deb and .rpm we already publish.
  • I’d add a Flathub listing, which is free and review is done by pull request. For Flathub we’d need a manifest, AppStream metadata, and the org.freedesktop.secrets permission so saved passwords keep working through the keyring.
  • Snap Store and an AUR package are possible later additions.

Gaps we should fix first

  1. Unsigned installers. Neither the Windows nor the macOS installer is signed today, so users hit SmartScreen and Gatekeeper warnings.
  2. No auto-updater. Users have to reinstall manually to get new versions.
  3. The ode CLI isn’t bundled. Local tools and MCP prompts point at a binary that isn’t shipped with the installers. The fix is small, but it should land before we publish anywhere new.

Questions for the community

  • Do you agree with skipping the Mac App Store, or would you want it as a longer-term goal?
  • Which channels do you actually use to install desktop tools: winget, Flathub, Snap, a direct download, or something else?
  • Is an auto-updater a must-have before wider distribution, or is manual reinstall acceptable for now?
  • Does anyone have experience with Windows code-signing providers or Flathub submissions for Tauri apps that could save us time?

Thanks in advance. Any experience or opinions are welcome.

2

Thanks Brian. From a Windows user’s perspective, I think direct download and winget would both be useful. Direct download is probably easier for users who aren’t comfortable with the terminal yet, while winget would be convenient for developers and technical users.

I’d also prioritize signing the installer because security warnings can make a new user unsure whether they should continue with the installation.

For the auto-updater, I think manual updates are acceptable for an initial release, as long as users are clearly notified when a new version is available. An auto-updater could then be added as the distribution matures.