Just a simple question as a simple user.. Why can't BOINC be made to auto update, or at least have a user-configurable option to do so, or not to do so if the user so desires ? I've been using Mozilla Firefox & Thunderbird for ages and they both manage it. It seems a pain to have to uninstall and reinstall each time BOINC changes.

That the BOINC client doesn't auto-update is for security reasons. It's to make sure that the user/administrator will always update the software, not that a rogue person or process.

BOINC is run by companies and Universities as well where the system admins don't really like anything auto-updating itself. It may cause crashes and other (incompatibility) problems.

BOINC will show a message in the Messages log if a newer client than the one you run is available. Of course, this message will only show when you run a recommended version of BOINC and the recommended version on the download site changes. It won't show it on development versions with a higher number.

To update the version, you don't need to uninstall the old version first, but you can install the new one directly over the old one. The newer version will uninstall the previous version before installing itself.

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