autoUpdater does not fire download-progress event after multiple retries

[Brainshaker95]

• Electron-Builder Version: 24.6.4
• Node Version: 20.7.0
• Electron Version: 26.2.2
• Electron Type (current, beta, nightly): current
• Electron-Updater Version: 6.1.4
• Target: nsis

---

I noticed that the autoUpdater does not fire the download-progress event when retrying the download multiple times. I have broken down the issue already but I am not sure what the exact cause of this behavior is. I will try to explain with the following reduced example:

Note that in my real application the triggers are user controlled, this is just for demonstration

package.json

{
  "name": "update-test",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "description": "This is a test",
  "main": "main.cjs",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "electron-builder -w --x64 --config ./electron.config.cjs"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "builder-util-runtime": "9.2.1",
    "electron-log": "4.4.8",
    "electron-updater": "6.1.4"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "electron": "26.2.2",
    "electron-builder": "24.6.4"
  },
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "git+https://github.com/<REDACTED>/update-test.git"
  }
}

electron.config.cjs

/**
 * @type {import('electron-builder').Configuration}
 */
module.exports = {
  appId: 'com.<REDACTED>.update_test',
  productName: 'Update Test',
  icon: 'static/logo.png',
  asar: false,
  files: [
    'src/electron/main.cjs',
    'src/electron/preload.cjs',
  ],
};

main.cjs

const path = require('path');

const { CancellationError } = require('builder-util-runtime');
const { app, BrowserWindow, ipcMain } = require('electron');
const log = require('electron-log');
const { autoUpdater, CancellationToken } = require('electron-updater');

log.transports.file.level = 'info';

autoUpdater.logger = log;
autoUpdater.autoDownload = false;
autoUpdater.disableWebInstaller = true;

/**
 * @type {import('electron').BrowserWindow | null}
 */
let mainWindow = null;

/**
 * @type {import('electron-updater').CancellationToken | null}
 */
let cancellationToken = null;

const createMainWindow = () => {
  mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
    title: 'Update Test',
    show: false,
    webPreferences: {
      nodeIntegration: true,
      preload: path.join(__dirname, 'preload.cjs'),
    },
  });

  mainWindow
    .once('ready-to-show', () => {
      if (mainWindow) {
        mainWindow.show();
        mainWindow.focus();
      }
    })
    .on('close', () => {
      mainWindow = null;
    });

  mainWindow.loadFile('index.html');
};

autoUpdater.on('checking-for-update', () => {
  mainWindow?.webContents.send('update-checking');
});

autoUpdater.on('update-available', (info) => {
  mainWindow?.webContents.send('update-available', info);
});

autoUpdater.on('error', (error) => {
  log.error('error during update:', error);
});

autoUpdater.on('update-cancelled', () => {
  mainWindow?.webContents.send('update-cancelled');
});

autoUpdater.on('download-progress', (progress) => {
  mainWindow?.webContents.send('download-progress', progress);
  log.info('download progress:', progress.percent);
});

ipcMain.on('download-update', () => {
  cancellationToken = new CancellationToken();

  autoUpdater
    .downloadUpdate(cancellationToken)
    .catch((error) => {
      if (error instanceof CancellationError) {
        return;
      }

      log.error('error during downloadUpdate:', error);
    });
});

ipcMain.on('cancel-update', () => {
  cancellationToken?.cancel();
});

ipcMain.on('check-for-update', () => {
  autoUpdater
    .checkForUpdates()
    .then((result) => {
      if (result?.cancellationToken) {
        ({ cancellationToken } = result);
      }
    })
    .catch((error) => {
      if (error instanceof CancellationError) {
        return;
      }

      log.info('error during checkForUpdates', error);
    });
});

app
  .once('ready', createMainWindow)
  .on('window-all-closed', () => {
    app.quit();
  });

preload.cjs

const { ipcRenderer } = require('electron');

const delay = (ms = 1000) => new Promise((resolve) => {
  setTimeout(resolve, ms);
});

delay(5000).then(() => ipcRenderer.send('check-for-update'));

ipcRenderer.on('update-available', () => {
  ipcRenderer.send('download-update');
});

ipcRenderer.on('download-progress', () => {
  delay().then(() => ipcRenderer.send('cancel-update'));
});

ipcRenderer.on('update-cancelled', () => {
  delay().then(() => ipcRenderer.send('download-update'));
});

main.log

[2023-09-26 21:58:30.273] [info]  Checking for update
[2023-09-26 21:58:31.185] [info]  Found version 0.0.2 (url: Update-Test-Setup-0.0.2.exe)
[2023-09-26 21:58:31.187] [info]  Downloading update from Update-Test-Setup-0.0.2.exe
[2023-09-26 21:58:31.190] [info]  Download block maps (old: "https://github.com/<REDACTED>/releases/download/v0.0.1/Update-Test-Setup-0.0.1.exe.blockmap", new: https://github.com/<REDACTED>/releases/download/v0.0.2/Update-Test-Setup-0.0.2.exe.blockmap)
[2023-09-26 21:58:31.497] [info]  File has 31 changed blocks
[2023-09-26 21:58:31.510] [info]  Full: 70,661.57 KB, To download: 631.65 KB (1%)
[2023-09-26 21:58:31.512] [error] Cannot download differentially, fallback to full download: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'C:\Users\<REDACTED>\AppData\Local\update-test-updater\installer.exe'
[2023-09-26 21:58:32.791] [info]  download progress: 33.79133869421877
[2023-09-26 21:58:33.791] [info]  download progress: 68.37158578695076
[2023-09-26 21:58:34.306] [info]  cancelled
[2023-09-26 21:58:35.312] [info]  Downloading update from Update-Test-Setup-0.0.2.exe
[2023-09-26 21:58:35.315] [info]  Download block maps (old: "https://github.com/<REDACTED>/releases/download/v0.0.1/Update-Test-Setup-0.0.1.exe.blockmap", new: https://github.com/<REDACTED>/releases/download/v0.0.2/Update-Test-Setup-0.0.2.exe.blockmap)
[2023-09-26 21:58:35.594] [info]  File has 31 changed blocks
[2023-09-26 21:58:35.595] [info]  Full: 70,661.57 KB, To download: 631.65 KB (1%)
[2023-09-26 21:58:35.595] [error] Cannot download differentially, fallback to full download: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'C:\Users\<REDACTED>\AppData\Local\update-test-updater\installer.exe'
[2023-09-26 21:58:36.902] [info]  download progress: 34.259768690024316
[2023-09-26 21:58:37.904] [info]  download progress: 68.90440721722504
[2023-09-26 21:58:38.313] [info]  cancelled
[2023-09-26 21:58:40.310] [info]  Downloading update from Update-Test-Setup-0.0.2.exe
[2023-09-26 21:58:40.311] [info]  Download block maps (old: "https://github.com/<REDACTED>/releases/download/v0.0.1/Update-Test-Setup-0.0.1.exe.blockmap", new: https://github.com/<REDACTED>/releases/download/v0.0.2/Update-Test-Setup-0.0.2.exe.blockmap)
[2023-09-26 21:58:40.587] [info]  File has 31 changed blocks
[2023-09-26 21:58:40.588] [info]  Full: 70,661.57 KB, To download: 631.65 KB (1%)
[2023-09-26 21:58:40.589] [error] Cannot download differentially, fallback to full download: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'C:\Users\<REDACTED>\AppData\Local\update-test-updater\installer.exe'

---

So basically it goes like this:

-> check for update

-> start download
-> download progress
-> cancel download

-> start download
-> download progress
-> cancel download

-> start download
=> process hangs and no download-progress event is emitted

---

I tracked it down to the electron-updater HttpExecutor ProgressCallbackTransform stream which seemingly stops sending progress updates after a while.
I tried adding the following log statement in this loop to visualize when exactly it stops:

const log = require('electron-log');
// ...
for (const stream of streams) {
  if (stream instanceof ProgressCallbackTransform) {
    stream.on('data', () => log.info('data received'));
  }
  // ...
}

I noticed that this stream does not receive any more data after retrying about 2 times (it's not always consistent for me), but it also doesn't throw an error or close. Is this some kind of intended behavior or have I ran into an edge case? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if I can help with any additional information.

[github-actions[bot]]

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[Brainshaker95]

Can someone please provide some additional insights? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[mmaietta]

@Brainshaker95 sorry, just now seeing this in my feed. How are you canceling the update? I can try investigating it locally if you're willing to provide a minimum reproducible repo?

[Brainshaker95]

@mmaietta Sorry I only just noticed that I got an answer here...

This is the repo I used: https://github.com/Brainshaker95/update-test
There is also some other unnecessary junk in there since it originally came from a much larger project but the general repro is the same as documented here.
The project can be setup using yarn and yarn build:all. I am also happy to provide a new repository with only the bare minimum code to show the issue, but I would need some time for that. Let me know if this already suffices.

How are you canceling the update?

Using the cancel method on the cancellationToken passed to autoUpdater.downloadUpdate