src/docs/updater/functional_spec.md

Chromium Updater Functional Specification

This is the functional specification for Chromium Updater. It describes the externally observable behavior of the updater, including APIs and UI.

[TOC]

Installation

Metainstaller

The metainstaller (UpdaterSetup) is a small executable that contains a compressed copy of the updater as a resource, extracts it, and triggers installation of the updater / an app. The metainstaller is downloaded by the user and can be run from any directory.

The metainstaller may have a tag attached to it. The tag is a piece of unsigned data from which the metainstaller extracts the ID of the application to be installed, along with the application's brand code, usage-stats opt-in status, and any additional parameters to be associated with the application.

After the metainstaller installs the updater, the updater installs an application by connecting to update servers and downloading and executing an application installer.

On Windows, the tag is embedded in one of the certificates in the metainstaller PE. The tag is supported for both EXE and MSI formats.

Tag Format

Tags have a format of a UTF-8 string Gact2.0Omaha{length}{tag}, where {length} is a big-endian uint16, and {tag} is {length} bytes long.

The format of the {tag} piece is further documented in tag.h.

The project also contains code used by non-Google embedders to support UTF-16 tags of the format Gact2.0Omaha{tag}ahamO0.2tcaG, but Chromium-branded and Google-branded builds assume the first case.

Brand code

The brand code is a string of arbitrary length. The brand code is persisted during the first install of the app. Over-installs and updates do not modify the brand code.

Note: the limit used to be 4 characters in the previous implementation of the updater.

On macOS, the brand code (as well as AP parameter and the app version) can be specified using a path to a plist file and a key within that plist file. When so specified, the updater will read the associated value from the plist and use it rather than the updater's built-in pv value. This allows the updater to detect and properly represent any overinstallations of an application, which are done by users or third-party software on macOS (and don't otherwise interact with the updater).

Install ID

The tag may carry a unique identifier called an "install ID" or "iid". The install ID is transmitted back to the server as part of the install event associated with running the installer, and as part of the first update check for the app that reports activity. It is then deleted from the client. It is not sent as part of update event reports, nor as part of non-active update checks, nor as part of active update checks after the first.

If a user runs an installer when the software is already installed, the install ID for the software will be updated to match, and the new value will be transmitted during the install event and the next active update check.

The install ID is meant to enable the app distributor to correlate each installer's download with the outcome of running that particular installer, and whether or not the installed software is eventually actively used at least once.

Elevation (Windows)

The metainstaller parses its tag and re-launches itself at high integrity if it is being run at medium integrity with UAC on and installing an application with needsadmin=true or needsadmin=prefers.

More information is in the design document .

De-elevation (Windows)

The metainstaller parses its tag and re-launches itself at medium integrity if it is being run at high integrity with UAC on and installing an application with needsadmin=false.

More information is in the design document .

Localization

Metainstaller localization presents the metainstaller UI with the user's preferred language on the current system. Every string shown in the UI is translated.

Bundle Installer

TODO(crbug.com/40664480): Implement bundle installers.

The bundle installer allows installation of more than one application. The bundle installer is typically used in software distribution scenarios.

Offline/Standalone Installer

Offline installers embed all data required to install the application, including the payload and various configuration data needed by the application setup. Such an install completes even if a network connection is not available.

Offline installers are used:

1. when an interactive user experience is not needed, such as automated deployments in an enterprise.
2. when downloading the application payload is not desirable for any reason.
3. during OEM installation.

On Windows, a offline installer is created by embedding a manifest file and application installer inside of the metainstaller (UpdaterSetup). These files are embedded in the metainstaller's updater.7z archive at the following paths using sign.py :

• bin\Offline\{GUID}\OfflineManifest.gup
• bin\Offline\{GUID}\{app_id}\installer.exe

{GUID} is an unique Windows GUID in the format {XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}.

See the Steps to create an offline metainstaller for Windows section for how to create an example offline installer.

See the Offline installs section below for more information on the manifest file and application installer.

Applications on macOS frequently install via "drag-install", and then install the updater using an offline installer on the application's first-run. The updater app can be embedded in a macOS application bundle as a helper and then invoked with appropriate command line arguments to install itself.

Steps to create an offline metainstaller for Windows

An offline metainstaller can be created using the sign.py tool, and can then be tagged by using the metainstaller tagging tool tag.py.

The example below generates an offline installer for Chrome Beta, with an appid of {8237E44A-0054-442C-B6B6-EA0509993955}.

The input files are the following:

• the untagged metainstaller out\ChromeBrandedDebug\UpdaterSetup.exe.
• the setup executable for Chrome Beta, saved at: out/ChromeBrandedDebug/UpdaterSigning/chrome_installer.exe.
• the manifest, shown below, saved at: out/ChromeBrandedDebug/UpdaterSigning/OfflineManifest.gup.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<response protocol="3.0">
  <systemrequirements platform="win" arch="${ARCH_REQUIREMENT}" min_os_version="6.1"/>
  <app appid="${APP_ID}" status="ok">
    <updatecheck status="ok">
      <urls>
        <url codebase="https://dl.google.com/edgedl/chrome/install/${INSTALLER_VERSION}/"/>
      </urls>
      <manifest version="${INSTALLER_VERSION}">
        <packages>
          <package name="${INSTALLER_FILENAME}" hash_sha256="${INSTALLER_HASH_SHA256}" size="${INSTALLER_SIZE}" required="true"/>
        </packages>
        <actions>
          <action event="install" run="${INSTALLER_FILENAME}" arguments="--do-not-launch-chrome" needsadmin="false" />
          <action event="postinstall" onsuccess="exitsilentlyonlaunchcmd"/>
        </actions>
      </manifest>
    </updatecheck>
  </app>
</response>

• and the final tagged offline setup file will be out\ChromeBrandedDebug\UpdaterSigning\Signed_ChromeBetaOfflineSetup.exe.

Here are the steps to create a tagged offline metainstaller, with the out directory at out\ChromeBrandedDebug:

• One-time step: from an elevated powershell prompt:

New-SelfSignedCertificate -DnsName id@domain.tld -Type CodeSigning
 -CertStoreLocation cert:\CurrentUser\My

• Note: all the steps below are run from a medium cmd prompt.
• One-time step: python3 -m pip install pypiwin32
• One-time step:

set PYTHONPATH=C:\src\chromium\src\chrome\tools\build\win`

• create the untagged offline installer ChromeBetaOfflineSetup.exe:

python3 chrome/updater/win/signing/sign.py                                     ^
  --in_file out/ChromeBrandedDebug/UpdaterSetup.exe                            ^
  --out_file out/ChromeBrandedDebug/UpdaterSigning/ChromeBetaOfflineSetup.exe  ^
  --identity id@domain.tld                                                     ^
  --appid {8237E44A-0054-442C-B6B6-EA0509993955}                               ^
  --installer_path out/ChromeBrandedDebug/UpdaterSigning/chrome_installer.exe  ^
  --manifest_path out/ChromeBrandedDebug/UpdaterSigning/OfflineManifest.gup    ^
  --lzma_7z "C:/Program Files/7-Zip/7z.exe"                                    ^
  --signtool ../../fig/google3/third_party/windows_sdk/windows_sdk_10/files/bin/10.0.22000.0/x86/signtool.exe ^
  --tagging_exe out/ChromeBrandedDebug/UpdaterSigning/tag.exe  ^
  --manifest_dict_replacements "{'${INSTALLER_VERSION}':'110.0.5478.0', '${ARCH_REQUIREMENT}':'x86'}"

• tag the offline installer and save the result as Signed_ChromeBetaOfflineSetup.exe:

out/ChromeBrandedDebug/UpdaterSigning/tag.exe                                                                   ^
  --set-tag="appguid={8237E44A-0054-442C-B6B6-EA0509993955}&appname=Google%20Chrome%20Beta&needsadmin=Prefers"  ^
  --out=out/ChromeBrandedDebug/UpdaterSigning/Signed_ChromeBetaOfflineSetup.exe                                 ^
  out/ChromeBrandedDebug/UpdaterSigning/ChromeBetaOfflineSetup.exe

• Now you can run the final signed offline installer: Signed_ChromeBetaOfflineSetup.exe!

In the example above, the OfflineManifest.gup has the following replaceable parameters which are replaced by sign.py as follows:

• ${APP_ID}: {8237E44A-0054-442C-B6B6-EA0509993955}.
• ${INSTALLER_FILENAME}: chrome_installer.exe.
• ${INSTALLER_SIZE}: computed size of installer_path.
• ${INSTALLER_HASH_SHA256}: computed sha256 hash of installer_path.
• ${INSTALLER_VERSION}: 110.0.5478.0 (provided on the command line in --manifest_dict_replacements).
• ${ARCH_REQUIREMENT}: x86 (provided on the command line in --manifest_dict_replacements).

The final manifest looks as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<response protocol="3.0">
  <systemrequirements platform="win" arch="x86" min_os_version="6.1"/>
  <app appid="{8237E44A-0054-442C-B6B6-EA0509993955}" status="ok">
    <updatecheck status="ok">
      <urls>
        <url codebase="https://dl.google.com/edgedl/chrome/install/110.0.5478.0/"/>
      </urls>
      <manifest version="110.0.5478.0">
        <packages>
          <package name="chrome_installer.exe" hash_sha256="1d28b3ca401b063b3e06b281f8ba80b52797e40de7830f1532c1018544027af8" size="89150504" required="true"/>
        </packages>
        <actions>
          <action event="install" run="chrome_installer.exe" arguments="--do-not-launch-chrome" needsadmin="false" />
          <action event="postinstall" onsuccess="exitsilentlyonlaunchcmd"/>
        </actions>
      </manifest>
    </updatecheck>
  </app>
</response>

MSI Wrapper

TODO(crbug.com/40841203) - Implement and document.

Scope

The updater is installed in one of the following modes (or scopes):

1. per-system (or per-machine). This mode requires administrator privileges.
2. per-user

Per-machine and per-user instances of the updater can run side by side.

Depending on the scope, the updater is installed at:

• (Windows, User): %LOCAL_APP_DATA%\{COMPANY}\{UPDATERNAME}\{VERSION}\updater.exe
• (Windows, System): %PROGRAM_FILES%\{COMPANY}\{UPDATERNAME}\{VERSION}\updater.exe
• (macOS, User): ~/Library/{COMPANY}/{UPDATERNAME}/{VERSION}/{UPDATERNAME}.app
• (macOS, System): /Library/{COMPANY}/{UPDATERNAME}/{VERSION}/{UPDATERNAME}.app
• (Linux, User): ~/.local/{COMPANY}/{UPDATERNAME}/{VERSION}/updater
• (Linux, System): /opt/{COMPANY}/{UPDATERNAME}/{VERSION}/updater

Command Line

The updater's functionality is split between several processes. The mode of a process is determined by command-line arguments:

• --install[=tag] [--app-id=...]
  • Install and activate this version of the updater if there is no active updater.
    • If a tag argument is specified instead of --app-id, this supplies the install metadata needed when installing an application. Typically, a tagged metainstaller invokes the updater with the tag. For example: --install="appguid=foo&appname=Foo&needsadmin=False".
  • --app-id=...
    • Also install the given application.
  • --handoff[=tag]
    • A tag argument can be specified, similar to --install.
  • --appargs="appguid=...&installerdata=..."
    • Allows extra data (installerdata) to be communicated to the application installer. One per application.
    • appguid must be the first arg followed by the installerdata. The same appguid must appear in --install= or --handoff=.
    • This is an alternative to using installdataindex in the tag. Where installdataindex selects from a pre-defined set of installerdata options, this value specifies the exact installerdata to use.
    • The value of installerdata needs to be URL encoded.
    • The data will be decoded and written to a file same as in installdataindex.
  • --offlinedir={GUID}
    • Performs offline install, which means no update check or file download is performed against the server during installation. All data is read from the files in the offline directory instead.
    • The following are the files in the offline directory, which is at {CURRENT_PROCESS_DIR}\Offline\{GUID}:
      • Manifest file, named OfflineManifest.gup or <app-id>.gup. The file contains the update check response in XML format.
      • {AppId}\AppInstaller.exe/msi.
      • See the "Offline installs" section below for more information.
    • The switch can be combined with --handoff above.
    • --enterprise
      • Suppresses transmission of pings from the offline install.
• --uninstall
  • Uninstall all versions of the updater.
• --uninstall-self
  • Uninstall this version of the updater.
• --uninstall-if-unused
  • Uninstall all versions of the updater, only if there are no apps being kept up to date by the updater.
• --wake
  • Trigger the updater's periodic background tasks. If this version of the updater is inactive, it may qualify and activate, or uninstall itself. If this version of the updater is active, it may check for updates for applications, unregister uninstalled applications, and more.
• --wake-all
  • Runs --wake for every updater version installed in this scope.
• --crash-me
  • Record a backtrace in the log, crash the program, save a crash dump, and report the crash.
• --crash-handler
  • Starts a crash handler for the parent process.
• --server
  • Launch the updater RPC server. The server answers RPC messages on the UpdateService interface only.
  • --service=update|update-internal
    • If update, the server answers RPC messages on the UpdateService interface only.
    • If update-internal, the server answers RPC messages on the UpdateServiceInternal interface only.
• --windows-service
  • This switch starts the Windows service. This switch is invoked by the SCM either as a part of system startup (SERVICE_AUTO_START) or when CoCreate is called on one of several CLSIDs that the server supports.
  • --console
    • Run in interactive mode.
  • -–com-service
    • If present, run in a mode analogous to --server --service=update. This switch is passed to ServiceMain by the SCM when CoCreate is called on one of several CLSIDs that the server supports. This is used for:
      • The Server for the UI when installing Machine applications.
      • The On-Demand COM Server for Machine applications.
      • COM Server for launching processes at System Integrity, i.e., an Elevator.
• --update
  • Install this version of the updater as an inactive instance.
• --recover
  • Repair the installation of the updater.
  • --appguid=...
    • After recovery, register an application with this id.
  • --browser-version=...
    • Register an application with this version.
    • If --browser-version is specified, --recover can be omitted.
  • --sessionid=...
    • Specifies the sesionid associated with this recovery attempt.
• --test
  • Exit immediately with no error.
• --healthcheck
  • Exit immediately with no error.

If none of the above arguments are set, the updater exits with an error.

Additionally, the mode may be modified by combining it with:

• --system
  • The updater operates in system scope if and only if this switch is present.

Backward-Compatible Updater Shims

To maintain backwards compatibility with Omaha and Keystone, the updater installs small versions of those programs that implement a subset of their APIs.

The updater also imports the properties and state of the apps that have been registered with Omaha and Keystone, so they show up as registered with the updater. This import is repeated periodically, so long as the updater is installed, but these properties do not override any existing properties the updater already tracks for each app.

Keystone Shims

The updater installs a Keystone-like application that contains these shims:

1. The Keystone app executable.
2. The ksadmin helper executable.
3. The ksinstall helper executable.
4. The Keystone Agent helper app executable.

Both the Keystone and Keystone Agent executables simply exit immediately when run.

The ksinstall executable expects to be called with --uninstall and possibly --system. If so, it deletes the Keystone shim (but not the overall updater) from the file system. Otherwise, it exits with a non-zero exit code.

The ksadmin shim is frequently called by applications and handles a variety of command lines:

• --delete, -d
  • Delete a ticket.
  • Accepts -P.
• --install, -i
  • Check for and apply updates.
• --ksadmin-version, -k
  • Print the version of ksadmin.
• --print
  • An alias for --print-tickets.
• --print-tag, -G
  • Print a ticket's tag.
  • Accepts -P.
• --print-tickets, -p
  • Print all tickets.
  • Accepts -P.
• --register, -r
  • Register a new ticket or update an existing one.
  • Accepts -P, -v, -x, -e, -a, -K, -H, -g.

Some of these actions accept parameters:

• --brand-key, -b plistKeyName
  • Set the brand code key. Use with -P and -B. Value must be empty or KSBrandID.
• --brand-path, -B pathToPlist
  • Set the brand code path. Use with -P and -b.
• --productid, -P id
  • Specifies the application ID.
• --system-store, -S
  • Use the system-scope updater, even if not running as root.
  • Not all operations can be performed with -S if not running as root.
• --tag, -g ap
  • Set the application's additional parameters. Use with -P.
• --tag-key, -K plistKeyName
  • Set the additional parameters path key. Use with -P and -H.
• --tag-path, -H pathToPlist
  • Set the tag path. Use with -P and -K.
• --user-initiated, -F
  • Set foreground priority for this operation.
• --user-store, -U
  • Use a per-user ticket store, even if running as root.
• --version, -v version
  • Set the application's version. Use with -P.
• --version-key, -e plistKeyName
  • Set the version path key. Use with -P and -a.
• --version-path, -a pathToPlist
  • Set the version path. Use with -P and -e.
• --xcpath, -x PATH
  • Set a path to use as an existence checker.

Omaha Shims

On Windows, the updater replaces Omaha's files with a copy of the updater, and keeps the Omaha registry entries (CLIENTS/{430FD4D0-B729-4F61-AA34-91526481799D} and CLIENTSTATE/{430FD4D0-B729-4F61-AA34-91526481799D}) up-to-date with the latest pv value. Additionally, the updater replaces the Omaha uninstall command line with its own.

The updater takes over the COM registration for the following classes:

• GoogleUpdate3WebUserClass
• GoogleUpdate3WebSystemClass
• GoogleUpdate3WebServiceClass
• PolicyStatusUserClass
• PolicyStatusSystemClass
• ProcessLauncherClass

The updater replaces GoogleUpdate.exe in the Google\Update directory with a copy of updater.exe. This is to allow the updater to handle handoffs from legacy Omaha installers that invoke Google\Update\GoogleUpdate.exe. All other legacy directories under Google\Update are removed.

The updater removes the following Omaha registrations:

• For system installations only: Removes the GoogleUpdate services "gupdate" and "gupdatem".
• For user installations only: Removes the GoogleUpdate run value in the registry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
• Removes the Omaha Core and UA tasks.

Runtime mode (Windows)

Similar to Omaha, the updater supports command lines of the form: UpdaterSetup.exe /install "runtime=true" UpdaterSetup.exe /install "runtime=true&needsadmin=false" UpdaterSetup.exe /install "runtime=true&needsadmin=true"

The "runtime" argument in the tag tells the updater to install itself and stay on the system without any associated application. The updater will stay on for at least kMaxServerStartsBeforeFirstReg wakes. This feature is used to expose the COM API to a process that will install applications via that API.

Installer User Interface

During the initialization of the installer, the user is shown a splash screen UI briefly before a full-fledged UI is shown. Installer initialization involves unzipping and unpacking the installer files.

The splash screen logo can be customized by editing logo.bmp .

During installation, the user is presented with a UI that displays the progress of the download and installation. The user may close the dialog, which cancels the installation. A cancelled installation still results in an event ping to the server indicating an installation failure.

The user interface is localized in the same languages as the Chromium project.

No UI will be shown if the --silent switch is specified on the command line.

The launch command provided by the application installer via the installer result API will be run unconditionally, even for silent modes, if the --alwayslaunchcmd switch is specified on the command line.

Help Button

If the installation fails, the updater shows an error message with a "Help" button. Clicking the help button opens a web page in the user's default browser. The page is opened with a query string: ?product={AppId}&errorcode={ErrorCode}.

Periodic detection of over-installed apps

The updater periodically checks if application versions persisted to the system match its built-in pv value. If different, the updater sends an installation ping for the application indicating the actually installed version and updates the internal pv value to match.

The application's version persisted to the system is determined via:

• The plist file and key indicated by the pv_path and pv_key in the app's updater registration on MacOS.
• The pv registry key as described by the "App Registration" section on Windows.

Updates

There is no limit for the number of retries to update an application if the update fails repeatedly.

Protocol

The updater communicates with update servers using the Omaha Protocol.

The updater uses platform-native network stacks (WinHTTP on Windows and NSURLSession on macOS) with user-agent "{PRODUCT_FULLNAME} {UpdaterVersion}".

Security

It is not possible to MITM the updater even if the network (including TLS) is compromised. The integrity of the client-server communication is guaranteed by the Client Update Protocol (CUP).

COM Security

The legacy COM classes in updater_legacy_idl.template allow non-admin callers because the interfaces only expose functionality that non-admin callers need. One exception is that calling IAppBundleWeb::install() after calling IAppBundleWeb::createApp requires the caller to be admin, since it allows installing a new application.

The new COM classes in updater_internal_idl.template and updater_idl.template require the callers to be admin. This is because the corresponding interfaces allow for unrestricted functionality, such as installing any app that the updater supports. For non-admins, COM creation will fail with E_ACCESSDENIED.

Retries

The updater does not retry an update check that transacted with the backend, even if the response was erroneous (misformatted or unparsable), until the next normally scheduled update check.

DOS Mitigation

The updater sends DoS mitigation headers in requests to the server.

When the server responds with an X-Retry-After header, the client does not issue another update check until the specified period has passed (maximum 24 hours).

• The updater distinguishes between foreground and background priority: if an X-Retry-After was received in the background case, a foreground update is still permitted (but not if it was received in response to a foreground update).

Usage Counts

The updater implements date-last counting, allowing servers to anonymously count the number of active updaters and applications.

Cohort Tracking

The client records the cohort, cohortname, and cohorthint values from the server in each update response (even if there is no-update) and reports them on subsequent update checks.

Install Source and update disposition.

All application installs and user-initiated application updates are processed as foreground operations and with an installsource set to "ondemand".

Installer Result API

As part of installing or updating an application, the updater executes the application's installer. The API for the application installer is platform- specific.

Application installers are run with a 15-minute timeout. If the installer runs for longer than this, the updater assumes failure and continues operation. However, the updater does not kill the installer process.

The application installer API varies by platform. macOS, Windows.

For Windows, for backward compatibility, the following installer results are read and written from the registry:

While installing:

• InstallerProgress : The installer writes a percentage value (0-100) while installing so that the updater can provide feedback to the user on the progress.

After the install completes:

• InstallerResult : NOTE: If this value is not written, all the other InstallerXXX values documented below will be ignored. InstallerResult specifies the result type and how to determine success or failure:
  • 0 - SUCCESS The installer succeeded, unconditionally.
    • if a launch command was provided via the installer API, the command will be launched and the updater UI will exit silently. Otherwise, the updater will show an install success dialog.
  • 4, and the installer exits with a zero exit code - SUCCESS Same as 0 - SUCCESS above.
  • All the error installer results below are treated the same.
    • if an installer error was not provided via the installer API or the exit code, generic error kErrorApplicationInstallerFailed will be reported.
    • the installer extra code is used if reported via the installer API.
    • the text description of the error is used if reported via the installer API.
    • 1 - FAILED_CUSTOM_ERROR
    • 2 - FAILED_MSI_ERROR
    • 3 - FAILED_SYSTEM_ERROR
    • 4 - FAILED_EXIT_CODE, where the installer exits with a non-zero exit code.
• InstallerError : Installer error, or 0 for success.
• InstallerExtraCode1 : Optional extra code.
• InstallerResultUIString : A string to be displayed to the user, if InstallerResult is a FAILED_XXX value.
• InstallerSuccessLaunchCmdLine : On success, the installer writes a command line to be launched by the updater. The command line will be launched at medium integrity on Vista with UAC on, even if the application being installed is a machine application. Since this is a command line, the application path should be properly enclosed. For example: "C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe" /foo

If InstallerResult is not explicitly written by the installer to the registry, the other installer API values such as InstallerError, InstallerExtraCode1, InstallerResultUIString, and InstallerSuccessLaunchCmdLine are not read from the registry, but are instead internally set based on whether the exit code from the installer process is a success or an error:

• If the exit code is a success, the installer result is set to success. If a launch command was provided via the installer API, the command will be launched and the updater UI will exit silently. Otherwise, the updater will show an install success dialog.
• If the exit code is a failure, the installer result is set to kExitCode, the installer error is set to kErrorApplicationInstallerFailed, and the installer extra code is set to the exit code.
• If a text description is reported via the installer API, it will be used.

On an update or install, the InstallerXXX values are renamed to LastInstallerXXX values. The LastInstallerXXX values remain around until the next update or install. Legacy MSI installers read values such as the LastInstallerResultUIString from the ClientState key in the registry and display the string.

TODO(crbug.com/40229998): Implement running installers at BELOW_NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS if the update flow is a background flow.

Updater UI behavior

The updater UI does the following:

• The title of the UI is derived from the bundlename if specified, or otherwise the appname from the metainstaller tag. For instance, if no bundlename is specified, and the appname is "Sample App", the title of the UI will be "Sample App Installer". If no bundlename or appname is specified, the UI title will be a generic Chromium Installer for unbranded, or Google Installer for branded.
• on successful installs that do not specify an installer API launch command:
  • Displays a "Thank you for installing" message that the user must click to close.
• on successful installs that specify a launch command:
  • Shows all UI until installation is completed then launches the launch command and then exits without displaying the thank you message or requiring the user to click on the UI.
• on error:
  • The UI is always shown with the error message. If a specific text description of the error is provided via the installer API, that is shown. Otherwise, a generic message with the error code is shown, either the code provided via the installer API, or the exit code, or a generic error kErrorApplicationInstallerFailed.

Installer Setup

To maintain backwards compatibility with Omaha, the updater setup signals a shutdown event that Omaha listens to, so that Omaha processes can shut down gracefully. The updater then proceeds to overinstall the Omaha binaries with the updater binaries.

Serializing Setup in the updater

The updater needs to serialize the following command lines:

• --install
• --uninstall-self, --uninstall, --uninstall-if-unused
• --update

for each specific version, so that they do not trigger concurrency issues that lead to an undefined state of the installation such as missing/incorrect/corrupt files/tasks/services/registration.

Errors may happen, such as a timeout due to not being able to acquire a lock, but the goals are to prevent corrupt states or a permanent deadlock.

Since the versions are installed SxS, the classes corresponding to the above command lines, i.e., AppInstall, AppUninstall, and AppUpdate will take a version-specific setup lock at construction time, and then proceed to install/uninstall/update that specific version.

All three of --uninstall-self, --uninstall, --uninstall-if-unused take the version-specific setup lock for that particular version first. --uninstall and --uninstall-if-unused call --uninstall-self on other versions that take their own version specific setup locks.

The version-specific setup lock is always acquired first. The setup lock serializes the installation/uninstallation of files, services, tasks, for that specific version, and nothing else.

The prefs global lock is a related lock used by the updater to serialize common access points. For instance, AppInstall calls GetVersion, which takes the prefs lock. The prefs lock is also used when swapping a new version to become the active updater.

Here is an example flow that may result in an error, but will keep the state deterministic with the design above:

• --uninstall-if-unused for active version A calls --uninstall-self for inactive version B.
• At the same time, version B is trying to install itself via -install, and -install is waiting for GetVersion.
• GetVersion is waiting on the global prefs lock, because --uninstall-if-unused is holding the global prefs lock.

In this example flow, the following scenarios may occur:

• GetVersion may timeout and fail -install on version B, in which case the -uninstall-self for version B gets the version-specific setup lock and proceeds to uninstall. Result: The user gets an error, and retries -install.
• Version B's uninstall may timeout getting the version-specific setup lock, returning back to version A, and version A proceeds to uninstall itself and releasing the global prefs lock, which allows version B's -install to proceed. Result: the user gets a successful -install.
• Version B's uninstall may timeout getting the version-specific setup lock, and GetVersion may also timeout and fail the install on version B. Result: The user gets an error, and retries the install.

Offline installs

The updater supports offline installations, for which no update check or file download is performed against the server during installation. All data is read from the files in the directory instead.

Offline installs include:

• an offline manifest file, which contains the update check response in XML format.
• app installer.

Offline install command line format:

• The offline directory is specified on the command line as a relative path in the format "/offlinedir {GUID}".
• The actual offline directory is at {CURRENT_PROCESS_DIR}\Offline\{GUID}.
• The offline manifest is at {CURRENT_PROCESS_DIR}\Offline\{GUID}\OfflineManifest.gup.
• The installer is at {CURRENT_PROCESS_DIR}\Offline\{GUID}\{app_id}\installer.exe.
  • installer.exe may not correspond exactly to the value of the manifest's run attribute, so the code picks the first file it finds in the directory if that is the case.

For online app installs, the update server checks the compatibility between the application and the host OS that the install is attempted on.

The updater client has equivalent support for offline installs, where no update server is involved.

The platform, arch, and min_os_version attributes in the offline update response are used to determine compatibility of the app being installed with the host OS.

Omaha 3 offline manifests have arch as "x64", but the Chromium functions return "x86_64" as the architecture for amd64. The updater accounts for this by treating "x64" the same as "x86_64".

For more information, see the protocol document.

MSI installers

MSI installers package an offline/standalone installer, and can be built using msi_from_standalone.py

msi_from_standalone.py builds an MSI around the supplied standalone installer. This MSI installer is intended to enable enterprise installation scenarios while being as close to a normal install as possible.

This method only works for application installers that do not use MSI.

For example, to create GoogleChromeBetaStandaloneEnterprise.msi from ChromeBetaOfflineSetup.exe:

python3 chrome/updater/win/signing/msi_from_standalone.py
    --candle_path ../third_party/wix/v3_8_1128/files/candle.exe
    --light_path ../third_party/wix/v3_8_1128/files/light.exe
    --product_name "GoogleChromeBeta"
    --product_version 110.0.5478.0
    --appid {8237E44A-0054-442C-B6B6-EA0509993955}
    --product_custom_params "&brand=GCEA"
    --product_uninstaller_additional_args=--force-uninstall
    --product_installer_data "%7B%22distribution%22%3A%7B%22msi%22%3Atrue%7D%7D"
    --standalone_installer_path ChromeBetaOfflineSetup.exe
    --custom_action_dll_path out/Default/msi_custom_action.dll
    --msi_base_name GoogleChromeBetaStandaloneEnterprise
    --enterprise_installer_dir chrome/updater/win/signing
    --company_name "Google"
    --company_full_name "Google LLC"
    --architecture x64
    --output_dir out/Default

If this untagged MSI installer is run as-is, it will run the updater metainstaller with the following parameters:

--silent
--install=appguid={8237E44A-0054-442C-B6B6-EA0509993955}&
      appname=GoogleChromeBeta&needsAdmin=True&brand=GCEA
--installsource=enterprisemsi
--appargs=appguid={8237E44A-0054-442C-B6B6-EA0509993955}&
          installerdata=%7B%22distribution%22%3A%7B%22msi%22%3Atrue%7D%7D

This MSI can be tagged using tag.exe as follows:

out\ChromeBrandedDebug\tag.exe
    "--set-tag=appguid={8237E44A-0054-442C-B6B6-EA0509993955}&
     appname=Google%20Chrome%20Beta&needsAdmin=True&brand=GGLL"
    GoogleChromeBetaStandaloneEnterprise.msi

Notice that the tag overrode the product_name and product_custom_params that were used to create the original MSI installer. The tag needs to include the appguid, the appname, and needsAdmin. Other tag parameters are optional.

If this tagged MSI installer is run, it will run the updater metainstaller with the following parameters:

--silent
--install=appguid={8237E44A-0054-442C-B6B6-EA0509993955}&
      appname=Google%20Chrome%20Beta&needsAdmin=True&brand=GGLL
--installsource enterprisemsi
--appargs=appguid={8237E44A-0054-442C-B6B6-EA0509993955}&
          installerdata=%7B%22distribution%22%3A%7B%22msi%22%3Atrue%7D%7D

Enterprise Enrollment

The machine updater may be enrolled with a particular enterprise. Enrollment is coordinated with a device management server by means of an enrollment token and a device management token. The enrollment token is placed on the device by other programs or the enterprise administrator and serves as an indicator of which enterprise the device should attempt to enroll with. On Windows platform, alternatively, an enrollment token can be tagged to the meta-installer by the key etoken. This is called runtime enrollment token and must be a GUID string. When the meta-installer runs, the tagged token is persisted to CloudManagementEnrollmentToken under registry key {CLIENTSTATE}\{UpdaterAppID}. The updater searches the enrollment token from known places in order, sends it along with the device's machine name, os information, and (on Windows) BIOS serial number. If the server accepts the enrollment, it responds with a device-specific device management token, which is used in future requests to fetch device-specific policies from the device management server.

By default, if enrollment fails, for example if the enrollment token is invalid or revoked, the updater will start in an unmanaged state. Instead, if you want to prevent the updater from starting if enrollment fails, set EnrollmentMandatory to 1 (Windows only).

After the updater sets itself up, the FetchPolicies RPC is invoked on the updater server to register with device management and fetch policies. Concurrent calls of FetchPolicies will result in only a single policy fetch.

The updater also checks for policy updates when the RunPeriodicTasks RPC is invoked at periodic intervals.

The maximum size of the token is 4K (Windows only).

Windows

The enrollment token is searched in the order:

• The EnrollmentToken REG_SZ value from HKLM\Software\Policies\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\CloudManagement
• The CloudManagementEnrollmentToken REG_SZ value from HKLM\Software\Policies\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\{BROWSER_NAME}
• The CloudManagementEnrollmentToken REG_SZ value from {CLIENTSTATE}\{UpdaterAppID} (the runtime enrollmen token)
• The CloudManagementEnrollmentToken REG_SZ value from {CLIENTSTATE}\{430FD4D0-B729-4F61-AA34-91526481799D} (the legacy runtime enrollment token)

The EnrollmentMandatory REG_DWORD value is also read from HKLM\Software\Policies\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\CloudManagement.

macOS

The enrollment token is searched in the order:

• Managed Preferences value with key CloudManagementEnrollmentToken in domain {MAC_BROWSER_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER}.
• Managed Preferences value with key EnrollmentToken in domain {MAC_BROWSER_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER}.
• File /Library/{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}/{BROWSER_NAME}/CloudManagementEnrollmentToken.

CBCM enterprise enrollment and policy fetches are done every time an install or or update happens, as well as when the updater periodic background task --wake runs.

Linux

The enrollment token is stored in: /opt/{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}/{PRODUCT_FULLNAME}/CloudManagementEnrollmentToken

The device management token is stored in: /opt/{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}/{PRODUCT_FULLNAME}/CloudManagement

Enterprise DM token

DM server sends back a DM token to the client device after the device enrollment. The client persists the DM token for the authorization purpose in the subsequent communication with the DM server.

DM token is stored at:

Windows

• The dmtoken REG_BINARY value at path: HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\Enrollment\
• The dmtoken REG_BINARY value at path: HKLM64\Software\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\{BROWSER_NAME}\Enrollment\. This is for backward compatibility.

macOS

• File /Library/Application Support/{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}/CloudManagement.

Linux

• File /opt/{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}/{PRODUCT_FULLNAME}/CloudManagement.

DM server can send back a response to delete the DM token or invalidate the DM token during policy fetch. If a DM token is deleted, the device could be re-enrolled into cloud management at the next --wake run provided there is a valid enrollment token. If a DM token is invalidated, a special DM token value INVALID_DM_TOKEN is persisted at the DM token location. The device won't re-enroll until the invalidated token is deleted externally.

Note the device must have a valid DM token for the downloaded CBCM policies to be effective.

Enterprise Policies

Enterprise policies can prevent the installation of applications:

• A per-application setting may specify whether an application is installable.
• If no per-application setting specifies otherwise, the default install policy is used.
• If the default install policy is unset, the application may be installed.

Enterprise policies can control the updates of applications:

• Update policy can be set to be always enabled, automatic updates only, manual updates only or disabled.
• Update policy can be set per-application.
• If no per-application setting specifies otherwise, the default update policy is used.
• If the default update policy is unset, the application may be updated.
• Updates and qualification are always enabled for the updater itself and can't be disabled by policy.
• If the update check period is set to zero, the updater is qualified without an update check.

Refer to chrome/updater/protos/omaha_settings.proto for more details.

Policies may be set by platform-specific means (Group Policy on Windows, Managed Preferences on macOS), or by communication with the device management server.

For device management, the enterprise policies for Google applications are downloaded from the device management server periodically and stored at a fixed secure location. The path on Windows is %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Google\Policies and on macOS is /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/DeviceManagement.

The policy service searches all active policy providers in pre-determined order for any policy value. When a policy value is configured in multiple providers, the service always returns the first active valid value.

The policy searching order:

Windows

• Policy dictionary defined in External constants(testing overrides)
• Group Policy
• Device Management policy (cloud policy)
• Policy from default value provider

NOTE: If the global policy CloudPolicyOverridesPlatformPolicy is set to a non-zero DWORD value, then the search order of Group Policy and Device Management policy is reversed.

macOS

• Policy dictionary defined in External constants(testing overrides)
• Device management policy (cloud policy)
• Policy from Managed Preferences
• Policy from default value provider

COM interfaces (Windows only)

The updater exposes IPolicyStatus4 and the corresponding IDispatch implementation to provide clients such as Chrome the ability to query the updater enterprise policies.

A client can CoCreateInstance the PolicyStatusUserClass or the PolicyStatusSystemClass to get the corresponding policy status object and query it via the IPolicyStatus4 methods.

Enterprise policies ADM/ADMX files (Windows, Google-branded builds only)

ADM/ADMX files for enterprise policies are generated with each build in GoogleUpdateAdmx.zip and GoogleCloudManagementAdmx.zip for enterprise customers.

These ADM/ADMX files are generated using the scripts in chrome/updater/enterprise/win/google/.

Deploying enterprise applications via updater policy

For each application that needs to be deployed via the updater, the policy for that application can be set to either Force installs (system wide) or Force installs (per user).

The updater then downloads and installs the application on all machines where the policy is deployed, and where the application is not already installed.

CBCM policy cache

The updater fetches all machine level app CBCM policies and caches them in the file system. The cached policy files are global readable for other apps to consume. Location of the policy cache folder:

• Windows: %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\Policies
• macOS: /Library/{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/DeviceManagement
• Linux: /opt/{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}/{PRODUCT_FULLNAME}/DeviceManagement

The policies are signed. The verification chain is:

• A special file called CachedPolicyInfo contains a public signing key with its verification data. This public key verification data is signed by the pinned key always using RSA_PKCS1_SHA256.
• Each type of policy is saved at base64_encoding{policy_type}/PolicyFetchResponse. This file is signed by the key in CachedPolicyInfo using the algorithm specified in this file.

The cached policies are cleared:

• before the device enrollment, to make sure the device management starts from a clean state.
• after policy fetch succeeds but receives no new policies. This means all existing policies become stale and/or policy cache is in abnormal state that fails all validations. Either way it's a good idea to reset the state.

Dynamic Install Parameters

needsadmin

needsadmin is one of the install parameters that can be specified for first installs via the metainstaller tag. needsadmin is used to indicate whether the application needs admin rights to install.

For example, here is a command line for the Updater on Windows that includes:

UpdaterSetup.exe --install="appguid=YourAppID&needsadmin=False"

In this case, the updater client understands that the application installer needs to install the application on a per-user basis for the current user.

needsadmin has the following supported values:

• true: the application supports being installed systemwide and once installed, is available to all users on the system.
• false: the application supports only user installs.
• prefers: the application installation is first attempted systemwide. If the user refuses the UAC prompt however, the application is then only installed for the current user. The application installer needs to be able to support the installation as system, or per-user, or both modes.

installdataindex

installdataindex is one of the install parameters that can be specified for first installs on the command line or via the metainstaller tag.

For example, here is a typical command line for the Updater on Windows:

UpdaterSetup.exe /install "appguid=YourAppID&appname=YourAppName&needsadmin=False&lang=en&installdataindex =verboselog"

In this case, the updater client sends the installdataindex of verboselog to the update server.

This is how a JSON request from the updater client may look like:

{
   "request":{
      "@os":"win",
      "@updater":"updater",
      "acceptformat":"crx3",
      "app":[
         {
            "appid":"YourAppID",
            "data":[
               {
                  "index":"verboselog",
                  "name":"install"
               }
            ],
            "enabled":true,
            "installsource":"ondemand",
            "ping":{
               "r":-2
            },
            "updatecheck":{
               "sameversionupdate":true
            },
            "version":"0.1"
         }
      ],
      "arch":"x86",
      "dedup":"cr",
      "domainjoined":true,
      "hw":{
         "avx":true,
         "physmemory":32,
         "sse":true,
         "sse2":true,
         "sse3":true,
         "sse41":true,
         "sse42":true,
         "ssse3":true
      },
      "ismachine":false,
      "lang":"en-US",
      "nacl_arch":"x86-64",
      "os":{
         "arch":"x86_64",
         "platform":"Windows",
         "version":"10.0.19042.1586"
      },
      "prodversion":"101.0.4949.0",
      "protocol":"3.1",
      "requestid":"{6b417770-1f68-4d52-8843-356760c84d33}",
      "sessionid":"{37775211-4487-48d5-845d-35a1d71b03bc}",
      "updaterversion":"101.0.4949.0",
      "wow64":true
   }
}

The server retrieves the data corresponding to installdataindex=verboselog and returns it back to the updater client.

This is how a JSON response from the update server may look like:

  "response":{
   "protocol":"3.1",
   "app":[
    {"appid":"12345",
     "data":[{
      "status":"ok",
      "name":"install",
      "index":"verboselog",
      "#text":"{\"logging\":{\"verbose\":true}}"
     }],
     "updatecheck":{
     "status":"ok",
     "urls":{"url":[{"codebase":"https://example.com/"},
                    {"codebasediff":"https://diff.example.com/"}]},
     "manifest":{
      "version":"1.2.3.4",
      "prodversionmin":"2.0.143.0",
      "run":"UpdaterSetup.exe",
      "arguments":"--arg1 --arg2",
      "packages":{"package":[{"name":"extension_1_2_3_4.crx"}]}}
     }
    }
   ]
  }

The updater client writes this data to a temporary file in the same directory as the application installer. This is for security reasons, since writing the data to the temp directory could potentially allow a man-in-the-middle attack.

The updater client provides the temporary file as a parameter to the application installer.

Let's say, as shown above, that the update server responds with these example file contents:

{"logging":{"verbose":true}}

The updater client creates a temporary file, say c:\my path\temporaryfile.dat (assuming the application installer is running from c:\my path\YesExe.exe), with the following file contents:

\xEF\xBB\xBF{"logging":{"verbose":true}}

and then provide the file as a parameter to the application installer:

"c:\my path\YesExe.exe" --installerdata="c:\my path\temporaryfile.dat"

• Notice above that the temp file contents are prefixed with an UTF-8 Byte Order Mark of EF BB BF.
• For MSI installers, a property is passed to the installer: INSTALLERDATA="pathtofile".
• For exe-based installers, as shown above, a command line parameter is passed to the installer: --installerdata="pathtofile".
• For Mac installers, an environment variable is set: INSTALLERDATA="pathtofile".
• Ownership of the temp file is the responsibility of the application installer. The updater does not delete this file.
• This installerdata is not persisted anywhere else, and it is not sent as a part of pings to the update server.

Application logo shown in the UI

The app logo is expected to be hosted at {APP_LOGO_URL}{url escaped app_id_}.bmp.

If {url escaped app_id_}.bmp exists, a logo is shown in the updater UI for that app install.

For example, if app_id_ is {8A69D345-D564-463C-AFF1-A69D9E530F96}, the {url escaped app_id_}.bmp is %7b8A69D345-D564-463C-AFF1-A69D9E530F96%7d.bmp.

APP_LOGO_URL is specified in chrome/updater/branding.gni. branding.gni

Update Formats

The updater accepts updates packaged as CRX₃ files. All files are signed with a publisher key. The corresponding public key is hardcoded into the updater.

Differential Updates

TODO(crbug.com/40227383): Implement and document differential update support.

Update Timing

The updater runs periodic tasks every hour, checking its own status, detecting application uninstalls, and potentially checking for updates.

The updater has a base update check period of 4.5 hours (though this can be overridden by policy). Each time the updater runs routine tasks, the update check is only run if the period has elapsed since the last check.

Since the updater's periodic tasks are run every hour, in practice the update check period is always rounded up to the nearest hour.

To prevent multiple updaters from synchronizing their update checks (for example, if a large cohort of machines is powered on at the the same time), the updater will randomly use a longer update check period (120% of the normal period) with 10% probability.

The updater will always check for updates if the time since the last check is negative (e.g. due to clock wander).

Once the updater commits to checking for updates, it will delay the actual check by a random number of milliseconds up to one minute. This avoids sychronizing traffic to the first second of each minute (or the first millisecond of each second).

Background updates can be disabled entirely through policy.

Users can trigger an immediate run of the periodic tasks by calling the RunPeriodicTasks RPC, even for a system updater.

Windows Scheduling of Updates

The update wake task is scheduled using the OS task scheduler.

The time resolution for tasks is 1 minute. The update wake task is set to run 5 minutes after creation. If a task execution is missed, it will run as soon as the system is able to.

The updater runs the wake task at system startup for system installs, via the system service, which is set to Automatic Start.

The updater also runs at user login. For system installs, this is done via a logon trigger on the scheduled task. For user installs, this is done via both the logon trigger on the scheduled task, as well as the "Run" registry entry in HKCU for redundancy.

Server Lifetime

The updater's RPC server starts and waits for incoming RPCs. The server considers itself idle if it has not been processing any RPC in the last ten seconds. Every five minutes, the updater will check itself for idleness and shut down if idle.

Additionally, on macOS, after answering at least one RPC, the server will shut itself down as soon as it becomes idle.

Additionally, on Windows, the updater will shut itself down if all clients release their references to the server.

On-Demand Updates

The updater exposes an RPC interface for any user to trigger an update check. The update can be triggered by any user on the system, even in the system scope.

The caller provides the ID of the item to update, the install data index to request, the priority, whether a same-version update (repair) is permitted, and callbacks to monitor the progress and completion of the operation.

The interface provides the version of the update, if an update is available.

Regardless of the normal update check timing, the update check is attempted immediately.

The RPC function UpdateService::CheckForUpdate discovers if updates are available. By calling this function, a client can check for updates, retrieve an update response, inspect the availability of an update but not apply the update. See chrome/updater/update_service.h for the UpdateService RPC interface definition.

For the Google implementation, the updater must write its version under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Update or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Google\Update as a string value named version. The on-demand update client in Google Chrome depends on this value being present for backward compatibility reasons with older versions of Omaha.

App Registration

The updater exposes an RPC interface for users to register an application with the updater. Unlike on-demand updates, cross-user application registration is not permitted.

If the application is already installed, it is registered with the version present on disk. If it has not yet been installed, a version of 0 is used.

User-scope updaters will update any application registered with them, except apps that are managed by a system-scope updater.

System-scope updaters will update any application registered with them. On POSIX platforms, they will additionally lchown the existence checker path registered by the application to be owned by the root user. User-scope updaters use this as a signal that the application is managed by a system-scope updater.

Windows

Application installers are expected to register with the updater by setting [HKCU or HKLM]\SOFTWARE{Company}\Update\Clients{AppID} → pv to the installed version of the application. If pv is present and valid in the app's Clients key it will be used by the updater as the source of truth for the registered version.

For backwards compatibility with third party software, on Windows, after a successful registration and on each update, the updater will set [HKCU or HKLM]\SOFTWARE{Company}\Update\ClientState{AppID} → pv to the version of the application.

App Activity Reporting

Applications can report whether they are actively used or not through the updater. Update servers can then aggregate this information to produce user counts.

Windows:

• When active, the application sets HKCU\SOFTWARE{Company}\Update\ClientState{AppID} → dr (REG_SZ): 1.
  • Note: both user-scoped and system-scoped updaters use HKCU.
• When reporting active use, the updater resets the value to 0.

macOS:

• The application touches ~/Library/{Company}/{Company}SoftwareUpdate/Actives/{APPID}.
• The updater deletes the file when reporting active use.

OEM Features

Background

• There are two types of OEM installs, which differ between OEMs and geography:
  • Machine EULA covering the app and the updater
    • A machine EULA is an OEM-specific EULA displayed during the Windows Out Of the Box Experience (OOBE). In some cases, the OEM's EULA covers Google's products. App developers should consult with legal counsel and make sure that the EULA also includes auto-updates and the updater.
  • No Machine EULA
    • General rule: OEMs should use Windows Audit Mode to install and not enter OOBE.
• Large OEMs prepare new computers in factories without network access.
• Some OEMs prepare one computer and replicate the image on many computers.

Application Integration

In most cases, the Technical Account Manager (TAM) will generate a wrapper around the installer that specifies the correct command line.

All OEM Cases

• The app must support per-machine installs.
• The app must be installed using a standalone installer.
• The updater command line must include the "/oem" switch.
• The app installer must not generate unique IDs during [OEM] install.
• The app installer must not write to HKCU during install (this will be deleted when the OEM exits audit mode). This is a general guideline, but worth re-iterating.
• The app installer must not ping or attempt to use the network.
• The app installer must not launch the app. If the app uses the Installer API to have the updater launch the app, the updater will not launch it when run silently by the OEM.

Detecting OEM Install From App Installer

During an OEM install (/oem), the updater writes the registry value OemInstallTime [REG_DWORD] to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Google\Update\Clients. The value of OemInstallTime is the value in minutes since the Windows Epoch. The presence of OemInstallTime should be considered an OEM install. The updater deletes this value on the next wake after 72 hours.

Machine EULA Case

This is the best case for the app (and users) because the updater will be able to update applications as soon as the end-user turns on the computer (post OOBE).

• The updater install command line must not include the "/eularequired" switch if the OEM EULA encompasses the updater and the app.

Non-Machine EULA Case

• The updater command line must include the "/eularequired" switch.
• Display a EULA on first run and do not allow the user to use the application without accepting it.
  • Usage stats cannot be enabled when installed by the OEM, so you may wish to offer the user the chance to opt-in on the EULA screen.
• When the EULA is accepted, notify the updater by writing eulaaccepted=1 in the app's ClientState or ClientStateMedium key.
• See the section on EULA/ToS Acceptance.

OEM Features

The updater has the following features that support OEM installs.

• Supports standalone installers, which can install the app without a network connection in the OEM factory.
• Supports silent installs and reports errors in any child processes as the exit code, allowing the OEM to easily determine success (exit code 0) or failure.
• Detects "OEM factory mode" and behaves correctly:
  • Does not ping or otherwise use the network in the OEM factory.
  • Does not create unique IDs in OEM factory.
  • Does not exit "OEM mode" if the OEM boots the system into non-audit mode.
• Does not use the network (i.e for update checks) until application's EULA is accepted when installed in the non-machine EULA case.

EULA/ToS Acceptance

Most commonly, users accept relevant Terms of Service before downloading or installing the updater.

The updater can be installed in "eula-required" mode by passing the install process the --eularequired switch. While in eula-required mode, the updater will not update software nor make any communications to the server, with the following exceptions:

• The updater will report its own uninstallation to the server, if the user takes manual action to uninstall it.
• If the user has agreed to send usage stats / crash reports, the updater will transmit those. (This case may be vacuous.)

In eula-required mode, the updater will still perform offline installations and respond as necessary to requests about its version and product set. It will not check for device policies or domain enrollment.

If a user installs an app using an online installer, the updater will transition out of eula-required mode and begin normal operation.

On Windows, applications can signal the updater that the user has accepted Terms of Service by writing HKLM\SOFTWARE\{Company}\Update\ClientStateMedium\{AppID} → eulaaccepted (DWORD): 1. The updater will then transition out of eula-required mode and begin normal operation the next time it runs periodic tasks.

Once operating normally, the updater only returns to eula-required mode when it is uninstalled and then reinstalled with --eularequired.

Windows: checking if EULA has already been accepted

• Applications can check if the EULA has already been accepted by checking whether the value eulaaccepted does not exist at HKCU|HKLM\SOFTWARE\{Company}\Update, or if it does exist, that it has a value of (DWORD): 1.

Usage Stats Acceptance

The updater may upload its crash reports and send usage stats if and only if any piece of software it manages is permitted to send usage stats.

Windows:

• Applications enable usage stats by writing: HKCU\SOFTWARE\{Company}\Update\ClientState\{APPID} → usagestats (DWORD): 1 for user install, and either HKLM\SOFTWARE\{Company}\Update\ClientStateMedium\{APPID} → usagestats (DWORD): 1 or HKLM\SOFTWARE\{Company}\Update\ClientState\{APPID} → usagestats (DWORD): 1 for system install.
• Applications rescind this permission by writing a value of 0.

macOS:

• Application enable usage stats by setting IsUploadEnabled to true for a crashpad database maintained in a "Crashpad" subdirectory of their application data directory.
• The updater searches the file system for Crashpad directories belonging to {Company}.

Telemetry

When the updater installs an application (an installer is run) it sends an event with "eventtype": 2 indicating the outcome of installation. The updater does not send such a ping for its own successful installation, but if the updater installation fails, then the updater sends an error event with "eventtype": 2. For example: "event":[{"errorcode":75075,"eventresult":0,"eventtype":2,.

Or for metainstaller errors in the 73000-73500 range: "event":[{"errorcode":73118,"eventresult":0,"eventtype":2,.

When the updater updates an application (including itself) it sends an event with "eventtype": 3 indicating the outcome of update operation.

When the updater detects the uninstallation of an application, it sends an event with "eventtype": 4 to notify the server of the uninstallation.

When the updater attempts to download a file, it sends an event with "eventtype": 14 describing the parameters and outcome of the download.

Multiple events associated with an update session are bundled together into a single request.

Downloading

There could be multiple URLs for a given application payload. The URLs are tried in the order they are returned in the update response.

The integrity of the payload is verified.

Downloads are cached in the crx_cache subdirectory of the program's install location. The cache contains at most one item per app ID, in a file named A_F where A is the app ID and F is the differential update fingerprint of the download.

Install location

On Windows for system-scope updaters, the install location for both 32-bit and 64-bit updaters is %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\{PRODUCT_FULLNAME}. In addition to this, there is a legacy install location at %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\Update.

On Windows for user-scope updaters, the install location is %LOCALAPPDATA%\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\{PRODUCT_FULLNAME}. In addition to this, there is a legacy install location at %LOCALAPPDATA%\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\Update.

Logging

All updater logs are written to {UPDATER_DATA_DIR}\updater.log.

After the log reaches 5 MiB in size, the updater will attempt to move it to {UPDATER_DATA_DIR}\updater.log.old when starting, replacing any existing file there. The log rotation may be delayed if another updater process is running.

On macOS for system-scope updaters, {UPDATER_DATA_DIR} is /Library/Application Support/{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}/{PRODUCT_FULLNAME}.

On macOS for user-scope updaters, {UPDATER_DATA_DIR} is ~/Library/Application Support/{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}/{PRODUCT_FULLNAME}.

On Windows for system-scope updaters, {UPDATER_DATA_DIR} is %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\{PRODUCT_FULLNAME}.

On Windows for user-scope updaters, {UPDATER_DATA_DIR} is %LOCALAPPDATA%\{COMPANY_SHORTNAME}\{PRODUCT_FULLNAME}.

On Windows, when the updater uninstalls itself, and there are no other versions of the updater in existence for the scope, the updater saves a copy of the final log file to Windows\SystemTemp\updater.log for system installs, and %TMP%\updater.log for user installs.

Network

Proxy detection and authentication (Windows)

The updater uses the proxy configuration defined by cloud policy or Windows proxy settings, in this order of priority.

Windows proxy settings are defined per-system or per-user. If no user is logged in when the updater is running, then WinHTTP per-system proxy settings are used. Otherwise, the updater impersonates one of the logged in users, and uses the corresponding proxy settings for that user.

The proxy settings include a combination of auto-proxy (WPAD), proxy auto-configuration, or named proxy. The updater tries one of these mechanisms in the order described above.

Services

Crash Reporting

The updater uses Crashpad for crash reporting. Each updater process spawns a crash handler child process. Each crash handler process is capable of uploading crashes.

Process Launcher

The feature allows installed products to pre-register and later run elevated command lines in the format c:\program files\foo\exe.exe params. Multiple command lines can be registered per app_id.

This feature is only for system applications.

The program path is always an absolute path. Additionally, the program path has to be a child of %ProgramFiles% or %ProgramFiles(x86)%. For instance:

• c:\path-to-exe\exe.exe is an invalid path.
• "c:\Program Files\subdir\exe.exe" is a valid path.
• "c:\Program Files (x86)\subdir\exe.exe" is also a valid path.

Registration

Registration is the same as for App commands, except there are no replaceable parameters. See App command registration.

Usage

Once registered, commands may be invoked using the LaunchCmdElevated method in the IProcessLauncher interface.

Application Commands (applicable to the Windows version of the Updater)

The feature allows installed products to pre-register and later run command lines in the format c:\path-to-exe\exe.exe {params} (elevated for system applications). {params} is optional and can also include replaceable parameters substituted at runtime. Multiple app commands can be registered per app_id.

The program path is always an absolute path. Additionally, for system applications, the program path has to be a child of %ProgramFiles% or %ProgramFiles(x86)%. For instance:

• c:\path-to-exe\exe.exe is an invalid path.
• "c:\Program Files\subdir\exe.exe" is a valid path.
• "c:\Program Files (x86)\subdir\exe.exe" is also a valid path.

Registration

App commands are registered in the registry with the following format:

    Update\Clients\{`app_id`}\Commands\`command_id`
        REG_SZ "CommandLine" == {command format}
        {optional} REG_DWORD "AutoRunOnOSUpgrade" == {1}

• There is a deprecated command layout format that is only supported for versions of Google Chrome 110.0.5435.0 and below with the cmd command id.

    Update\Clients\{`app_id`}
        REG_SZ `command_id` == {command format}

Example {command format}: c:\path-to\echo.exe %1 %2 %3 StaticParam4

As shown above, {command format} needs to be the complete path to an executable followed by optional parameters.

If "AutoRunOnOSUpgrade" is set to 1, the corresponding command is invoked when the updater detects an OS upgrade. In this case, command format can optionally contain a single substitutible parameter %1, which is filled in with the OS versions in the format {Previous OS Version}-{Current OS Version}.

For example, if the {command format} for an AutoRunOnOSUpgrade command is: c:\path-to\echo.exe %1 StaticParam

then on an OS upgrade from OS version 9.0.22631.0.0 to OS version 10.0.22631.0.0, the AutoRunOnOSUpgrade will be run as follows: c:\path-to\echo.exe 9.0.22631.0.0-10.0.22631.0.0 StaticParam

It is ok to have a static command line with no %1 for an AutoRunOnOSUpgrade command if the OS versions information is not required.

Usage

Once registered, commands may be invoked using the execute method in the IAppCommandWeb interface.

interface IAppCommandWeb : IDispatch {
  // Use values from the AppCommandStatus enum.
  [propget] HRESULT status([out, retval] UINT*);
  [propget] HRESULT exitCode([out, retval] DWORD*);
  [propget] HRESULT output([out, retval] BSTR*);
  HRESULT execute([in, optional] VARIANT substitution1,
                  [in, optional] VARIANT substitution2,
                  [in, optional] VARIANT substitution3,
                  [in, optional] VARIANT substitution4,
                  [in, optional] VARIANT substitution5,
                  [in, optional] VARIANT substitution6,
                  [in, optional] VARIANT substitution7,
                  [in, optional] VARIANT substitution8,
                  [in, optional] VARIANT substitution9);
};

Here is a code snippet a client may use, with error checking omitted:

var bundle = update3WebServer.createAppBundleWeb();
bundle.initialize();
bundle.createInstalledApp(appGuid);
var app = bundle.appWeb(0);
cmd = app.command(command);
cmd.execute();

Parameters placeholders (%1-%9) are filled by the numbered substitutions in IAppCommandWeb::execute. Placeholders without corresponding substitutions cause the execution to fail.

Clients may poll for the execution status of commands that they have invoked by using the status method of IAppCommandWeb. When the status is COMMAND_STATUS_COMPLETE, the exitCode method can be used to get the process exit code.

Command-Line Format

• for system applications, the executable path has to be a child of %ProgramFiles% or %ProgramFiles(x86)% for security, since it runs elevated.
• placeholders are not permitted in the executable path.
• placeholders take the form of a percent character % followed by a digit. Literal % characters are escaped by doubling them.

For example, if substitutions to IAppCommandWeb::execute are AA and BB respectively, a command format of: echo.exe %1 %%2 %%%2 becomes the command line echo.exe AA %2 %BB

Signature verification

Signature verification is not done on the app command executables, since the AppCommands will always be running from a secure location for system, and the key that defines the application command path is in HKLM, both of which mitigate the threat of a non-admin attacker. An Admin attacker would already be able to bypass any signature checking by binplanting a DLL, or just by performing whatever changes they like on the system, so is outside the threat model.

Telemetry

A ping with the value kEventAppCommandComplete = 41 is sent if usagestats are enabled after an app command completes execution.

The app command id is reported in the appcommandid attribute in the ping. The appcommandid attribute is used along with the appid to uniquely identify the app command associated with the ping.

If the app command launched successfully, the result returned by the app command process will be reported in error in the ping.

If the app command fails to launch, code kErrorAppCommandLaunchFailed is reported in the extra_code1 in the ping, along with the actual error code that caused that launch failure in error.

If the app command times out, code kErrorAppCommandTimedOut is reported in the extra_code1 in the ping, along with the error code HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(ERROR_TIMEOUT) in error.

Policy Status API

The feature allows Chrome and other applications to query the policies that are currently in effect.

Chrome Browser Enterprise (CBE) admins sometimes want to understand if the update policies they have set have propagated to the clients.

Without this API, the only way they can do this is to open up regedit to see if the GPO has propagated correctly.

In addition there is a delay between when the GPO is set on the server and when the value is propagated on the client so being able to verify that the updater picks up the policy can help debug propagation issues as well.

The IPolicyStatus/IPolicyStatus2/IPolicyStatus3/IPolicyStatus4 interfaces therefore expose this functionality that can be queried and shown in chrome://policy.

[IPolicyStatus/IPolicyStatus2/IPolicyStatus3/IPolicyStatus4 interface definition] (https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/main:chrome/updater/app/server/win/updater_legacy_idl.template?q=IPolicyStatus)

Uninstallation

On Mac and Linux, if the application was registered with an existence path checker and no file at that path exists, the updater considers the application uninstalled, sends the ping, and stops trying to keep it up to date. User-scope updaters will also do this if the file is owned by the root user.

On Windows, if the Clients entry for for the application is deleted, the app is considered uninstalled.

On Windows, the updater registers a "UninstallCmdLine" under the Software\ {Company}\Updater key. This command line can be invoked by application uninstallers to cause the updater to update its registrations. The updater also checks for uninstallations in every periodic task execution.

When the last registered application is uninstalled, the updater uninstalls itself immediately. The updater also uninstalls itself if it has started 24 times but never had a product (besides itself) registered for updates.

The updater uninstaller removes all updater files, registry keys, RPC hooks, scheduled tasks, and so forth from the system, except that:

• it leaves a small log file in its data directory.
• it leaves the Clients registry key in Windows registry.

Inactive instances of the updater uninstall themselves (but not the updater overall) once the active version of the updater is higher than the inactive instance's version. Additionally, as part of its periodic tasks, the active updater will trigger the uninstallation of old instances of the updater and clean up any files they leak.

Associated Tools

External Constants Overrides

Building the updater produces both a production-ready updater executable and a version of the executable used for the purposes of testing. The test executable is identical to the production one except that it allows certain constants to be overridden by the execution environment:

• url: List of URLs for update check & ping-back.
• crash_upload_url: Crash reporting URL.
• device_management_url: URL to fetch device management policies.
• initial_delay: Time to delay the start of the automated background tasks.
• overinstall_timeout: Over-install timeout.
• server_keep_alive: Minimum amount of time the server needs to stay alive.
• use_cup: Whether CUP is used at all.
• cup_public_key: An unarmored PEM-encoded ASN.1 SubjectPublicKeyInfo with the ecPublicKey algorithm and containing a named elliptic curve.
• group_policies: Allows setting group policies, such as install and update policies.
• crx_verifier_format: An integer value to guide how to verify the CRX file.
  • 0: CRX3.
  • 1: CRX3 with test publisher proof.
  • 2: CRX3 with production publisher proof.
• idle_check_period: The idleness check period.
• managed_device: Whether the device is enterprise managed.

Overrides are specified in an overrides.json file placed in the updater data directory.

Tagging Tools

The project contains a helper tool for tagging called tag.exe. This tool can be used to inject a superfluous certificate into a signed binary to support the creation of tagged binaries.