Safari extension automatic update - safari

Question

I'm trying to set up automatic updates on my Safari extension and it doesn't seem to be working. Here is what I have tried so far.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Extension Updates</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
<string>com.COMPANY_NAME.safari.EXTENSION_NAME</string>
<key>Developer Identifier</key>
<string>MY_IDENTIFIER</string>
<key>CFBundleVersion</key>
<string>4</string>
<key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key>
<string>4</string>
<key>URL</key>
<string>PATH_TO_EXTENSION_DOWNLOAD</string>
</dict>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
From my understanding whenever someone who has downloaded the extension opens Safari with my extension installed it will ping the "Update Manifest URL" set in the extension builder. If the versions do not match the extension at the download URL then an update will be made.
The .plist file is on my server and the extension is being served from the server with the "Update Manifest URL" set correctly. I can download the extension from my website but when I upload a new extension version and update the plist file I'm not getting prompted to update my extension in Safari > preferences > extensions.
Is there anything potentially missing in what I've been doing?

Answer 1

Try setting the date on your computer a day or to into the future. I think Safari only checks for updates once a day. Or did you already solve this?

Answer 2

I would try hitting your 'Update Manifest' URL directly and ensure that the file it's calling is indeed a greater version than the current extension you have. If that checks out fine then your current version of the extension might not have an update manifest URL set so your update file isn't being called at all!
In this case you need to either figure out what update manifest URL the current version is pointing at and upload your update.plist file there and continuously do that upon every release incase users from v1.0 (with update issues) are coming back when v3.0 is out using the new update url they need a way to break their dependency on that old update manifest url...or require that new users install your updated version directly from the server with the proper update manifest URL field set as well as the update.plist you posted above.
As a test I would install the latest version of the extension from your server, turn off auto update in safari preferences so you'll be notified if there's a new version, then bump the versions to 4.0.1 or something minor and upload the new files to the server. Then restart safari and see if anything triggers inside the safari extension preferences.

Answer 3

I have verified the communication to update server with Wireshark. Seems that Safari would check updates.plist (the one specified in the extension Info.plist as
<key>Update Manifest URL</key>
<string>URL/updates.plist</string>
) anytime you visit Preferences -> Extensions -> Updates. If the server responds with 304 Not Modified, Safari does no further action. If the plist contains a newer version of the extension (and it's the only version in the plist), Safari downloads and updates the extension.