Abstract: Techniques for automatically synchronizing the install and build directories of a software application are provided. According to one set of embodiments, a computer system can, at a time of installing the application, extract an intent file from a software package comprising at least one file of the application, where the intent file includes a mapping that identifies a first location for the file with respect to a build directory of a development environment where the application was developed and a second location for the file with respect to an install directory of the computer system where the application will be, or has been, installed. If the first location is different from the second location, the computer system can create a hard link for the file at the first location within the install directory that points to an instance of the file residing at the second location within the install directory.

Abstract: A computing system is provided that includes a distribution endpoint including one or more processors configured to receive a request from a developer computing device to update a program managed by the distribution endpoint, the program being previously packaged and signed. The one or more processors of the distribution endpoint are further configured to receive a code file including a change to the program, retrieve a package of the program that has not been updated with the change to the program, generate an updated package of the program by adding the code file to the retrieved package of the program such that the updated package of the program logically represents a package of the updated program, and distribute the updated package of the program to an end user computing device.

Abstract: A computing system is provided that includes a distribution endpoint including one or more processors configured to receive a request from a developer computing device to update a program managed by the distribution endpoint, the program being previously packaged and signed. The one or more processors of the distribution endpoint are further configured to receive a code file including a change to the program, retrieve a package of the program that has not been updated with the change to the program, generate an updated package of the program by adding the code file to the retrieved package of the program such that the updated package of the program logically represents a package of the updated program, and distribute the updated package of the program to an end user computing device.

Abstract: Deploying applications to a device often involves generating an application package for installing the application anew, and application patches for updating the application from a specific first version to a specific second version. Presented herein are alternative techniques for deploying the application to devices using a block map indicating hashcodes for respective blocks of respective resources of the application. A device may install the application by installing the application package, or may update a deployed application from an earlier version to a later version by retrieving the block map, identifying updated blocks having a different hashcode than the current hashcode of the block in the currently deployed application, and retrieving only the updated blocks.

Abstract: Deploying applications to a device often involves generating an application package for installing the application anew, and application patches for updating the application from a specific first version to a specific second version. Presented herein are alternative techniques for deploying the application to devices using a block map indicating hashcodes for respective blocks of respective resources of the application. A device may install the application by installing the application package, or may update a deployed application from an earlier version to a later version by retrieving the block map, identifying updated blocks having a different hashcode than the current hashcode of the block in the currently deployed application, and retrieving only the updated blocks.