Add automatic update notification system to eic-shell by Copilot · Pull Request #25 · eic/eic-shell

Copilot · 2026-03-14T15:47:17Z

Adds a non-intrusive, offline-safe update notification system that alerts users when a newer eic-shell release is available, with local modification protection and a self-upgrade path.

New behavior

On normal startup, a background check (check_for_updates_async) compares the installed release version against the latest GitHub release — never blocking shell startup

Single-line notification when an update is available:

eic-shell update available (24.06.0-stable -> 24.09.0-stable). Run './eic-shell --upgrade' to update.
eic-shell update available (24.06.0-stable -> 24.09.0-stable), but local modifications detected. Reinstall with: curl -L https://get.epic-eic.org | bash

Results cached for 24 hours to avoid repeated API calls; fails silently when offline (5s curl timeout)

New flags (both Singularity and Docker launchers)

--upgrade — re-runs https://get.epic-eic.org installer preserving PREFIX/VERSION/CONTAINER; blocked if local script modifications are detected
--version (no argument) — prints current container and installed version on a single line: container: eic_xl:nightly version: 24.06.0-stable. When called with an argument (Singularity only), sets the version to install as before.

install.sh changes

After generating the eic-shell launcher, fetches the current release tag from the GitHub API asynchronously (non-blocking) and records it alongside the script's mtime in $PREFIX/.eic-shell-metadata
If offline during install, stores "unknown" as the installed version

Metadata and cache files

File	Contents
`$PREFIX/.eic-shell-metadata`	`INSTALLED_VERSION`, `INSTALLED_DATE`, `CONTAINER`, `ORGANIZATION`, `EIC_SHELL_ORIGINAL_MTIME`
`$PREFIX/.eic-shell-version-check`	`LAST_CHECK`, `LATEST_VERSION`, `CHECK_STATUS`, `HAS_LOCAL_MODIFICATIONS`

Local modification detection compares the current mtime of the eic-shell script against EIC_SHELL_ORIGINAL_MTIME stored at install time. Cross-platform stat fallback handles both Linux (stat -c %Y) and macOS (stat -f %m).

Original prompt

Overview

Add an automatic update notification system to eic-shell that alerts users when newer versions are available on the main branch. The system should be non-intrusive, work offline, and protect user modifications.

Requirements

Core Functionality

Track commits from main branch
- Store the installed commit SHA (7-char short form) in metadata file
- Check GitHub API for latest commit on main branch: https://api.github.com/repos/eic/eic-shell/commits/main
- Compare current vs latest commit SHA
Non-blocking, offline-safe version checking
- Check for updates asynchronously in background (don't delay shell startup)
- Network requests must have timeout (5 seconds)
- Fail silently if network unavailable
- Cache results for 24 hours to avoid excessive API calls
Local modification detection
- Track original mtime of eic-shell script in metadata
- Detect if script modified within last 24 hours
- Block automatic upgrade if local modifications detected
- Show different notification message when mods detected
Simple notifications
- Single-line output when update available
- No fancy boxes or multi-line output
- Format: eic-shell update available (oldsha -> newsha). Run './eic-shell --upgrade' to update.
- With mods: eic-shell update available (oldsha -> newsha), but local modifications detected. Reinstall with: curl -L https://get.epic-eic.org | bash
Upgrade mechanism
- New --upgrade flag on eic-shell launcher
- Downloads and runs latest install.sh from https://get.epic-eic.org
- Preserves existing configuration (PREFIX, CONTAINER, VERSION, etc.)
- Blocks upgrade if local modifications detected
- Updates metadata after successful upgrade
Manual check option
- New --check-updates flag to force immediate check
- Bypasses 24-hour cache
- Shows current status

Implementation Details

Metadata file: $PREFIX/.eic-shell-metadata

INSTALLED_COMMIT=a1b2c3d
INSTALLED_DATE=1234567890
CONTAINER=eic_xl
ORGANIZATION=eicweb
EIC_SHELL_ORIGINAL_MTIME=1234567890

Cache file: $PREFIX/.eic-shell-version-check

LAST_CHECK=1234567890
LAST_CHECK_DATE="Fri Mar 14 12:00:00 UTC 2026"
LATEST_COMMIT=e4f5g6h
CHECK_STATUS=success
HAS_LOCAL_MODIFICATIONS=no

Changes to install.sh:

After creating eic-shell script, fetch current commit SHA from GitHub API
Create metadata file with commit SHA and script mtime
If offline during install, use "unknown" as commit SHA

Changes to eic-shell launcher:

Add version check functions at the top
Add --upgrade and --check-updates to argument parsing
Call check_for_updates_async on normal startup (background, non-blocking)
Implement upgrade logic that re-downloads and runs install.sh

Key Functions to Implement

In eic-shell launcher script:

read_metadata() - Source metadata file
check_local_modifications() - Return 0 if modified in last 24h, 1 otherwise
should_check_version() - Return 0 if cache older than 1 day, 1 otherwise
fetch_latest_commit() - Curl GitHub API with timeout, extract 7-char SHA
cache_version_check() - Write results to cache file
read_cached_commit() - Read LATEST_COMMIT from cache
read_cached_modification_status() - Read HAS_LOCAL_MODIFICATIONS from cache
display_update_notification() - Echo single-line message
check_for_updates() - Main check logic (respects cache, handles offline)
check_for_updates_async() - Background wrapper with output suppression

Cross-platform Compatibility

Use stat with fallback for macOS (stat -f %m) and Linux (stat -c %Y)
Use [[ =~ ]] for regex matching (available in bash)
Curl flags should work on both platforms

Error Handling

All curl commands: curl -s --connect-timeout 5 --max-time 5 ... 2>/dev/null
Validate commit SHA is 7 hex chars: [[ "$result" =~ ^[0-9a-f]{7}$ ]]
Suppress all errors from background check: ( check_for_updates 2>/dev/null & )
Never exit or error on network failure - just continue silently

Configuration

EIC_SHELL_REPO="eic/eic-shell"
INSTALL_URL="https://get.epic-eic.org"
CHECK_INTERVAL_DAYS=1
NETWORK_TIMEOUT=5
MODIFICATION_GRACE_HOURS=24

Testing Scenarios

Normal operation: User starts eic-shell, check happens in background, notification appears if update available
Offline: Network unavailable, check times out silently, shell starts normally
Local modifications: User edited eic-shell within 24h, notification shows reinstall message, --upgrade blocked
Force check: ./eic-shell --check-updates bypasses cache, shows current status
Upgrade: ./eic-shell --upgrade downloads installer, reruns with same config, updates metadata
Rate limiting: Multiple shell starts within 24h use cached result, don't hit API

Notes

This is for the existing install.sh (shell script version)...

This pull request was created from Copilot chat.

✨ Let Copilot coding agent set things up for you — coding agent works faster and does higher quality work when set up for your repo.

Co-authored-by: wdconinc <4656391+wdconinc@users.noreply.github.com>

wdconinc · 2026-03-14T16:07:39Z

install.sh

  echo "OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS:"
-  echo "          -u,--upgrade       Upgrade the container to the latest version"
+  echo "          -u,--upgrade       Upgrade eic-shell to the latest version"
+  echo "          --check-updates    Check for available eic-shell updates"


@copilot Remove the --check-updates functionality. Only do implicit update checks. Explicit update checks are not supported, and the user can anyway do an explicit upgrade.

Done in 9c3d4f1. Removed --check-updates from both Singularity and Docker launchers (argument parsing, help text, and handler blocks).

wdconinc · 2026-03-14T16:10:58Z

install.sh

@copilot Although --version serves a different purpose already, add support for the --version options without a second argument to print the current container version and other metadata (on a single line).

Done in 9c3d4f1. --version with no argument (or when followed by another flag) now prints a single line: container: eic_xl:nightly version: 24.06.0-stable. With an argument it continues to set the version to install (Singularity) or is version-info only (Docker). The help text and examples are updated accordingly.

wdconinc · 2026-03-14T16:12:28Z

install.sh

+INSTALLED_VERSION=$(curl -s --connect-timeout 5 --max-time 5 \
+  "https://api.github.com/repos/eic/eic-shell/releases/latest" 2>/dev/null \
+  | grep '"tag_name":' \
+  | sed -E 's/.*"([^"]+)".*/\1/')


@copilot Ensure that the curl call here is also async and not blocking.

Done in 9c3d4f1. The GitHub API call is now in a background subshell (( ... ) &). The stat to capture the eic-shell mtime still runs synchronously (it's a fast local filesystem call), while the curl + metadata file write happens asynchronously without blocking the install.

Co-authored-by: wdconinc <4656391+wdconinc@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR adds an offline-safe, non-blocking update notification system to the generated eic-shell launcher (Singularity and Docker), plus a self-upgrade path via re-running the installer and additional metadata/cache files under $PREFIX.

Changes:

Add background GitHub release checks with 24h caching and single-line update notifications in both launcher variants.
Add --upgrade and enhanced --version behavior to the launchers.
Persist install metadata ($PREFIX/.eic-shell-metadata) and version-check cache ($PREFIX/.eic-shell-version-check), with installer recording original launcher mtime.

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install.sh

+function read_metadata() {
+  local metadata_file="\${PREFIX}/.eic-shell-metadata"
+  if [ -f "\${metadata_file}" ]; then
+    source "\${metadata_file}"
+  fi
+}


install.sh

+  curl -L \${INSTALL_URL} \
    | bash -s -- \${FLAGS}
-  echo "eic-shell upgrade sucessful"
+  echo "eic-shell upgrade successful"


install.sh

+function read_metadata() {
+  local metadata_file="\${PREFIX}/.eic-shell-metadata"
+  if [ -f "\${metadata_file}" ]; then
+    source "\${metadata_file}"
+  fi
+}


install.sh

+  curl -L \${INSTALL_URL} \
+    | bash -s -- \${FLAGS}
+  echo "eic-shell upgrade successful"


install.sh

+  {
+    echo "INSTALLED_VERSION=$INSTALLED_VERSION"
+    echo "INSTALLED_DATE=$(date +%s)"
+    echo "CONTAINER=$CONTAINER"
+    echo "ORGANIZATION=$ORGANIZATION"
+    echo "EIC_SHELL_ORIGINAL_MTIME=$EIC_SHELL_MTIME"
+  } > "${PREFIX}/.eic-shell-metadata"


Initial plan

e4d65f2

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and wdconinc Mar 14, 2026

Copilot started work on behalf of wdconinc March 14, 2026 15:47 View session

Copilot AI and others added 2 commits March 14, 2026 16:00

Add update notification system to eic-shell install.sh

8fd7198

Co-authored-by: wdconinc <4656391+wdconinc@users.noreply.github.com>

Fix spelling: succesfull -> successful

f08551b

Co-authored-by: wdconinc <4656391+wdconinc@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Add automatic update notification system to eic-shell~~ Add automatic update notification system to eic-shell Mar 14, 2026

Copilot AI requested a review from wdconinc March 14, 2026 16:02

Copilot finished work on behalf of wdconinc March 14, 2026 16:02

wdconinc reviewed Mar 14, 2026

View reviewed changes

Copilot started work on behalf of wdconinc March 14, 2026 16:19 View session

Remove --check-updates, add --version info, make metadata curl async

9c3d4f1

Co-authored-by: wdconinc <4656391+wdconinc@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI requested a review from wdconinc March 14, 2026 16:23

Copilot finished work on behalf of wdconinc March 14, 2026 16:23

wdconinc marked this pull request as ready for review March 14, 2026 17:57

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 14, 2026 17:57

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of wdconinc March 14, 2026 17:58 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 14, 2026

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Add automatic update notification system to eic-shell#25

Add automatic update notification system to eic-shell#25
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Copilot AI commented Mar 14, 2026 •

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New behavior

New flags (both Singularity and Docker launchers)

install.sh changes

Metadata and cache files

Overview

Requirements

Core Functionality

Implementation Details

Key Functions to Implement

Cross-platform Compatibility

Error Handling

Configuration

Testing Scenarios

Notes

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wdconinc Mar 14, 2026

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Copilot AI commented Mar 14, 2026 •

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