Using a framework such as Sparkle <http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/> (Mac OS X-only) I'd like to see WebKit nightly builds be able to fetch and install new versions of themselves automatically.
The nightly build launcher simply runs Safari, so there is no real opportunity to run any code to check for updates on an ongoing basis when the nightly build is running. Checking on launch inside the launcher application itself would lead to a long delay before Safari appeared, which also does not seem like a good idea. I think this is a task better suited to an external application.
*** Bug 20861 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Is it not possible to spawn a thread upon the start of the launcher app, and check for updates after a timeout? That way, it doesn't delay Safari from starting.
Starting Safari involves calling "exec", so the process that was running no longer exists.
NightShift <http://web.mac.com/reinholdpenner/Software/NightShift.html> might be a good solution for this. (Note: I haven't tried it myself, so this is not an endorsement, just a suggestion.)
Since this has been fixed, resolved wontfix seems inappropriate now ;)