A method, system and computer program product for updating distributed applications in a multiple application-server environment, in which at least one server receives updates later than another server and update delivery is tracked by an update tracker in the form of a message history, is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, an application will be distributed across multiple servers and will receive updates from a central repository across a network or other communication fabric. Responsive to starting an application server in the data processing system, a messaging system is contacted over a secure connection to determine whether an application update distribution occurred while the application server was unavailable to update applications, and, responsive to a determination that the application update distribution occurred, an application is received.