docs/Design/Autoupdate/OS/RISC-OS.md
How software is installed and updated on RISC OS (the Acorn-heritage 32-bit ARM OS, maintained as open source by RISC OS Open Ltd for RISC OS 5), split into manual and automatic (background/self-updating, like Linux Snap auto-refresh).
RISC OS has no traditional installer for most software. A RISC OS application is an application directory whose name starts with
!("pling") — e.g.!Draw,!PackMan. The Filer shows it as one icon; everything the app needs lives inside that one directory, so "installing" is literally dragging the!Appdirectory out of the downloaded.zipto where you want it (and deleting it to uninstall). Archives must be extracted on RISC OS (SparkFS/SparkPlug) to keep the RISC OS filetype metadata. Layered on top are the PackMan package manager and the !Store / PlingStore app store — but none is a background auto-updater; even PackMan requires the user to open it and click "Upgrade all".
| Platform | Manual | Automatic | Auto mechanism | Maintainer | URL | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
!App drag-install (classic Filer method) | ✓ | — | None — download .zip, extract on RISC OS, drag the !App to $.Apps; re-download to update | OS convention | https://www.riscosopen.org/wiki/documentation/show/Getting%20RISC%20OS%20Software | n/a |
| PackMan (GUI package manager over RiscPkg/LibPkg) | ✓ | Semi (user-initiated) | User opens PackMan → Update lists → Upgrade all downloads & installs newer versions. No scheduled/background refresh | Alan Buckley | https://github.com/alanbu/packman | GPL (OSS) |
| RiscPkg / RISC OS Packaging Project (package format + repos) | ✓ | Semi (via PackMan) | Repositories provide an index; the front-end pulls updates on demand | RISC OS Packaging Project / ROOL | https://packages.riscosopen.org/ | GPL (OSS) |
| !Store / PlingStore (app store) | ✓ | Semi (notify + one-click) | From v1.10 (2014) compares version numbers and prompts the user, who triggers the update. No silent background updating | R-Comp / "!Store" | http://www.plingstore.org.uk/ (HTTP-only) | Proprietary/freeware client |
OS / ROM + !Boot (HardDisc4) updates | ✓ | — | None — download a ROM image / disc build and re-flash/re-copy; nightly + stable builds published, fetched manually | RISC OS Open Ltd | https://www.riscosopen.org/content/downloads | Apache-2.0 (RISC OS 5) |
RISC OS 5 vs 6: RISC OS 5 (RISC OS Open, open source, Apache-2.0) publishes ROM +
HardDisc4 builds (nightly + stable) fetched and flashed manually; some OS components
are also PackMan packages, but still only when the user runs PackMan — no automatic
OS update service. RISC OS 6 / 4.x (RISCOS Ltd → 3QD) is a separate, proprietary,
largely dormant branch using the same manual !Boot/disc model.
URL note: the legacy
riscpkg.orgis HTTP-only and refuses HTTPS — treat it as semi-defunct; the live canonical package infrastructure ispackages.riscosopen.org.
A WeKan Electron/Node desktop client cannot run on RISC OS. Electron bundles Chromium + V8/Node, which target modern 64-bit Windows/macOS/Linux (Electron has even dropped 32-bit ARM Linux). RISC OS is a cooperatively-multitasked, single-address-space, 32-bit ARM OS with no POSIX/glibc layer and no V8/Node port, so neither Node nor a current Chromium can build there. The only way to reach a WeKan board from RISC OS is a native browser (NetSurf, Iris) — and WeKan's Meteor/JS-heavy UI is beyond what those render — so RISC OS is not a supported WeKan client platform.