Please distribute uBlock Origin as CRX with "update from Github" option

[Darthagnon]

Prerequisites

• I verified that this is not a filter list issue. Report any issues with filter lists or broken website functionality in the uAssets issue tracker.
• This is NOT a YouTube, Facebook or Twitch report. These sites MUST be reported by clicking their respective links.
• This is not a support issue or a question. For support, questions, or help, visit /r/uBlockOrigin.
• I performed a cursory search of the issue tracker to avoid opening a duplicate issue.
• The issue is not present after disabling uBO in the browser.
• I checked the documentation to understand that the issue I am reporting is not normal behavior.

I tried to reproduce the issue when...

• uBO is the only extension.
• uBO uses default lists and settings.
• using a new, unmodified browser profile.

Description

uBlock Origin is on the way out for Chrome/ium but may still work a while on Chromium forks. Can Chromium CRX builds be distributed in Github releases to facilitate installation? Currently, only a ZIP is distributed there for Chromium-based browsers (I believe this is missing the necessary signature for installation, so renaming ZIP to CRX won't work)

Can auto-update from Github releases be added as a feature? Other banned extensions also use this update mechanism.

My issue from Reddit

A specific URL where the issue occurs.

https://gitflic.ru/project/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-chrome-clean
https://github.com/NeverDecaf/chromium-web-store

Steps to Reproduce

For uBlock Origin:

1. Download ZIP from Github releases
2. Extract ZIP to permanent location
3. Enable Dev mode in chrome://extensions
4. Load unpacked extension
5. Manually update periodically by deleting extracted ZIP and replacing with new release's extracted ZIP
6. You can manually build a self-signed CRX, but it will not update and adds a few build steps

Expected behavior

For the other extensions linked above:

1. Download CRX from git forge repository
2. Drag'n'drop CRX to install
3. Enjoy. It auto updates from its git forge periodically (it is not hosted by any extension stores)

Actual behavior

uBlock Origin is inconvenient to manually install and update. Soon, manual installation and updating will be the only option for Chromium forks. It would be nice if manual installation and updating was convenient like some other extensions have demonstrated.

uBO version

1.64

Browser name and version

Supermium Version 122.0.6261.152 (Official Build) (64-bit) Chrome++ 1.8.8 modified version

Operating System and version

Windows 10

[u-RraaLL]

#3514 (comment)