Make Update and Update

Make Update and Update are a set of applications to update an older version of a file (or files) to a newer version. They work by finding just the differences between the two versions and applying those differences to the older version.

This is especially useful when you need to maintain common versions of large files at remote locations and the differences between the two versions is small. Another use is to "patch" files or applications -- that is, to provide updates of files (e.g., applications) to current users without making the contents of the entire files available others.

Make Update allows the user to create a list of pairs of files -- each pair consisting of an old version and a new version of a particular file. Make Update then compares the files in each pair, finding the differences between the old version and the new version. It compresses those differences and stores them, along with some version information and the size and CRC of each file, in an Update File, which by default has extension *.Upd.

Make Update allows the user to save its session information in an Update Session File, which by default has extension *.UpS.

Update allows the user to select: (1) a directory containing the old version of the file(s), and (2) an Update File.

Update will then literally update the file(s) to the new version by applying the differences found in the Update File. Update displays a log showing all the files it has processed.

Get Make Update and Update and give it a try to see what it's all about!