Issue Deploying Install/Updates On GitHub with ClickOnce

Question

I've been trying to figure out the best way to deploy a WPF application with ClickOnce. I'd download the setup file from the GitHub URL, and cross my fingers, and run into this every time:

PLATFORM VERSION INFO
    Windows             : 10.0.15063.0 (Win32NT)
    Common Language Runtime     : 4.0.30319.42000
    System.Deployment.dll       : 4.7.2046.0 built by: NET47REL1
    clr.dll             : 4.7.3130.0 built by: NET472REL1LAST_B
    dfdll.dll           : 4.7.2046.0 built by: NET47REL1
    dfshim.dll          : 10.0.15063.0 (WinBuild.160101.0800)

SOURCES
    Deployment url          : https://github.com/SuperScrub837/tree/master/SuperScrub837/SuperScrub837/publish/SuperScrub837.application

ERROR SUMMARY
    Below is a summary of the errors, details of these errors are listed later in the log.
    * Activation of https://github.com/SuperScrub837/tree/master/SuperScrub837/SuperScrub837/publish/SuperScrub837.application resulted in exception. Following failure messages were detected:
        + Exception reading manifest from https://github.com/SuperScrub837/blob/master/SuperScrub837/SuperScrub837/publish/SuperScrub837.application: the manifest may not be valid or the file could not be opened.
        + DTD is prohibited in this XML document.

COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION FAILURE SUMMARY
    No transaction error was detected.

WARNINGS
    There were no warnings during this operation.

OPERATION PROGRESS STATUS
    * [8/14/2018 8:21:48 PM] : Activation of https://github.com/SuperScrub837/tree/master/SuperScrub837/SuperScrub837/publish/SuperScrub837.application has started.

ERROR DETAILS
    Following errors were detected during this operation.
    * [8/14/2018 8:21:50 PM] System.Deployment.Application.InvalidDeploymentException (ManifestParse)
        - Exception reading manifest from https://github.com/SuperScrub837/blob/master/SuperScrub837/SuperScrub837/publish/SuperScrub837.application: the manifest may not be valid or the file could not be opened.
        - Source: System.Deployment
        - Stack trace:
            at System.Deployment.Application.ManifestReader.FromDocument(String localPath, ManifestType manifestType, Uri sourceUri)
            at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadDeploymentManifestDirectBypass(SubscriptionStore subStore, Uri& sourceUri, TempFile& tempFile, SubscriptionState& subState, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options, ServerInformation& serverInformation)
            at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadDeploymentManifestBypass(SubscriptionStore subStore, Uri& sourceUri, TempFile& tempFile, SubscriptionState& subState, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options)
            at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivation(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String& errorPageUrl, Uri& deploymentUri)
            at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivationWithRetry(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String& errorPageUrl)
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
            at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
            at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivationWithRetry(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String& errorPageUrl)
            at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.ActivateDeploymentWorker(Object state)
        --- Inner Exception ---
        System.Xml.XmlException
        - DTD is prohibited in this XML document.
        - Source: System.Xml
        - Stack trace:
            at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
            at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDoctypeDecl()
            at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent()
            at System.Deployment.Application.ManifestValidatingReader.XmlFilteredReader.Read()
            at System.Xml.XsdValidatingReader.Read()
            at System.Deployment.Application.ManifestReader.FromDocument(String localPath, ManifestType manifestType, Uri sourceUri)

COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION DETAILS
    No transaction information is available.

I've been trying to follow some blogs that I've found, and have created the following in .gitignore:

## Ignore Visual Studio temporary files, build results, and
## files generated by popular Visual Studio add-ons.
##
## Get latest from https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/master/VisualStudio.gitignore

#Allow publish directory
!publish/

# User-specific files
*.suo
*.user
*.userosscache
*.sln.docstates

# User-specific files (MonoDevelop/Xamarin Studio)
*.userprefs

# Build results
[Dd]ebug/
[Dd]ebugPublic/
[Rr]elease/
[Rr]eleases/
x64/
x86/
bld/
[Bb]in/
[Oo]bj/
[Ll]og/

# Visual Studio 2015 cache/options directory
.vs/
# Uncomment if you have tasks that create the project's static files in wwwroot
#wwwroot/

# MSTest test Results
[Tt]est[Rr]esult*/
[Bb]uild[Ll]og.*

# NUNIT
*.VisualState.xml
TestResult.xml

# Build Results of an ATL Project
[Dd]ebugPS/
[Rr]eleasePS/
dlldata.c

# .NET Core
project.lock.json
project.fragment.lock.json
artifacts/
**/Properties/launchSettings.json

*_i.c
*_p.c
*_i.h
*.ilk
*.meta
*.obj
*.pch
*.pdb
*.pgc
*.pgd
*.rsp
*.sbr
*.tlb
*.tli
*.tlh
*.tmp
*.tmp_proj
*.log
*.vspscc
*.vssscc
.builds
*.pidb
*.svclog
*.scc

# Chutzpah Test files
_Chutzpah*

# Visual C++ cache files
ipch/
*.aps
*.ncb
*.opendb
*.opensdf
*.sdf
*.cachefile
*.VC.db
*.VC.VC.opendb

# Visual Studio profiler
*.psess
*.vsp
*.vspx
*.sap

# TFS 2012 Local Workspace
$tf/

# Guidance Automation Toolkit
*.gpState

# ReSharper is a .NET coding add-in
_ReSharper*/
*.[Rr]e[Ss]harper
*.DotSettings.user

# JustCode is a .NET coding add-in
.JustCode

# TeamCity is a build add-in
_TeamCity*

# DotCover is a Code Coverage Tool
*.dotCover

# Visual Studio code coverage results
*.coverage
*.coveragexml

# NCrunch
_NCrunch_*
.*crunch*.local.xml
nCrunchTemp_*

# MightyMoose
*.mm.*
AutoTest.Net/

# Web workbench (sass)
.sass-cache/

# Installshield output folder
[Ee]xpress/

# DocProject is a documentation generator add-in
DocProject/buildhelp/
DocProject/Help/*.HxT
DocProject/Help/*.HxC
DocProject/Help/*.hhc
DocProject/Help/*.hhk
DocProject/Help/*.hhp
DocProject/Help/Html2
DocProject/Help/html

# Click-Once directory
publish/

# Publish Web Output
*.[Pp]ublish.xml
*.azurePubxml
# TODO: Comment the next line if you want to checkin your web deploy settings
# but database connection strings (with potential passwords) will be unencrypted
*.pubxml
*.publishproj

# Microsoft Azure Web App publish settings. Comment the next line if you want to
# checkin your Azure Web App publish settings, but sensitive information contained
# in these scripts will be unencrypted
PublishScripts/

# NuGet Packages
*.nupkg
# The packages folder can be ignored because of Package Restore
**/packages/*
# except build/, which is used as an MSBuild target.
!**/packages/build/
# Uncomment if necessary however generally it will be regenerated when needed
#!**/packages/repositories.config
# NuGet v3's project.json files produces more ignorable files
*.nuget.props
*.nuget.targets

# Microsoft Azure Build Output
csx/
*.build.csdef

# Microsoft Azure Emulator
ecf/
rcf/

# Windows Store app package directories and files
AppPackages/
BundleArtifacts/
Package.StoreAssociation.xml
_pkginfo.txt

# Visual Studio cache files
# files ending in .cache can be ignored
*.[Cc]ache
# but keep track of directories ending in .cache
!*.[Cc]ache/

# Others
ClientBin/
~$*
*~
*.dbmdl
*.dbproj.schemaview
*.jfm
*.pfx
*.publishsettings
orleans.codegen.cs

# Since there are multiple workflows, uncomment next line to ignore bower_components
# (https://github.com/github/gitignore/pull/1529#issuecomment-104372622)
#bower_components/

# RIA/Silverlight projects
Generated_Code/

# Backup & report files from converting an old project file
# to a newer Visual Studio version. Backup files are not needed,
# because we have git ;-)
_UpgradeReport_Files/
Backup*/
UpgradeLog*.XML
UpgradeLog*.htm

# SQL Server files
*.mdf
*.ldf
*.ndf

# Business Intelligence projects
*.rdl.data
*.bim.layout
*.bim_*.settings

# Microsoft Fakes
FakesAssemblies/

# GhostDoc plugin setting file
*.GhostDoc.xml

# Node.js Tools for Visual Studio
.ntvs_analysis.dat
node_modules/

# Typescript v1 declaration files
typings/

# Visual Studio 6 build log
*.plg

# Visual Studio 6 workspace options file
*.opt

# Visual Studio 6 auto-generated workspace file (contains which files were open etc.)
*.vbw

# Visual Studio LightSwitch build output
**/*.HTMLClient/GeneratedArtifacts
**/*.DesktopClient/GeneratedArtifacts
**/*.DesktopClient/ModelManifest.xml
**/*.Server/GeneratedArtifacts
**/*.Server/ModelManifest.xml
_Pvt_Extensions

# Paket dependency manager
.paket/paket.exe
paket-files/

# FAKE - F# Make
.fake/

# JetBrains Rider
.idea/
*.sln.iml

# CodeRush
.cr/

# Python Tools for Visual Studio (PTVS)
__pycache__/
*.pyc

# Cake - Uncomment if you are using it
# tools/**
# !tools/packages.config

# Telerik's JustMock configuration file
*.jmconfig

# BizTalk build output
*.btp.cs
*.btm.cs
*.odx.cs
*.xsd.cs

Here is the code in my .gitattributes file:

*.manifest binary
*.application binary
*.deploy binary

This is turning out to be a bit more of a pain point for me than I probably should be making it. I want the user to be able to install from the GitHub link, and update the application.

Thoughts?

Kieran Ojakangas · Accepted Answer

So, the purpose of publishing my ClickOnce executables on GitHub was to allow updates to be downloaded from this repository as my software was updated. As many people on this website are aware, GitHub discourages downloading raw files since they usually intend themselves to be a repository system for the code itself - they don't want to have long download times, etc.

Keep in mind, at least at the moment this app I've been building is lightweight, so since I don't have an alternative at the moment with my available resources, I've decided to keep these updating executables on the repo itself. If one wants to do that, here's a tip, which you may have seen before - try using the following URL:

https://github.com/SuperScrub837/raw/master/SuperScrub837/SuperScrub837/publish/

Instead of:

https://github.com/SuperScrub837/tree/master/SuperScrub837/SuperScrub837/publish/

in your ClickOnce preferences for the project.

When I used the raw version of the link, the deployed application on another application updated successfully without any errors. Hope this helps and isn't too extra - also, this article may belong on ServerFault or something, so my apologies if that's the case since I posed this question here.

Issue Deploying Install/Updates On GitHub with ClickOnce

Answers (2)

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