Glossary

• Repair patch: a patch method that downloads the updated files from the server and replaces local files with them
• Incremental patch: a patch method that downloads binary diff files of the updated files from the server and applies these diffs to the local files. Incremental patches can only be applied to a specific version of the app, i.e. an incremental patch that patches the app from version 1.1 to 1.2 can not be applied if installed app's version is not 1.1. Similarly, if installed app's version is 1.0 and there are two incremental patches (1.0->1.1 and 1.1->1.2), these patches are applied consecutively to update the app to the 1.2 version
• Binary diff file: stores the changes between two versions of the same file. It is usually more efficient to download a small diff file rather than downloading the whole file
• Self patching: when enabled, patcher does not modify the files in the application directory but rather apply the patches to the cache directory. After all patches are applied there, application terminates itself and launches the self patcher. Self patching is the way to go when e.g. you want the launcher to patch itself, because launchers can't patch themselves in conventional ways while they are still running
• Self patcher: a tiny executable that is responsible for moving the self-patched files from the cache directory to the application directory and deleting any obsolete files afterwards
• Obsolete file: files in the application directory that are not part of the up-to-date version of the app. These files are deleted after the application is patched
• Cache directory: a path that holds the temporary patch files while applying a patch. Its contents are automatically cleaned after a successful patch. It is located at {Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData)}\SimplePatchToolDls\{PROJECT_NAME}
• VersionInfo: an xml file that stores all the necessary information to update an app
• PatchInfo: an xml file that stores detailed information about an incremental patch