Download link that doesn't change with new versions ( For app deployment)

Andreas B Jensen

Hi guys. We deploy apps but users can’t update since no admin rights. Notepad++ has many updates very often

Example where automatic updates are possible via powershell

https://www.poly.com/content/dam/www/software/PlantronicsHubInstaller.exe

Example where automatic updates are not possible due to the link including version of software installer

https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/releases/download/v8.4/npp.8.4.Installer.x64.exe)

Notepad ++ is awesome. Does any people here have any idea for a solution? paid third party software is not an option, neither is winget because it’s not suitable for Intune yet and Choco is sadly a no go in a company

PeterJones

@andreas-b-jensen ,

Suggestion: When you download the application (because as the IT / internal code distributor, I assume you are the one who is doing the download and running the installer), rename whatever you get to npp.installer.exe, then that simple-named executable can be what you run on your users’ machines.

PeterJones

Alternately, https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/releases/latest will always go to the most recent release, and you can probably use the GitHub API to get a JSON list of files in that release, and then grep the json for .x64.exe, and then use that as the filename for grabbing, and rename when it’s downloaded.

Alternately, installed_notepad++\updater\gup.xml includes the <InfoUrl> tag, which gives a download-info URL (normally https://notepad-plus-plus.org/update/getDownloadUrl.php). If you go to that PHP page, it is an XML file which has a <Location> tag that gives the actual download URL. Your download-and-rename script can use that value as the URL to grab the actual executable from (though that Location might always be the 32bit version; you may have to edit the URL that you download from to put .x64 before the .exe)

PeterJones

@peterjones said in Download link that doesn't change with new versions ( For app deployment):

because as the IT / internal code distributor, I assume you are the one who is doing the download and running the installer

To clarify, by that I meant: as the IT gateway, you should always download the version and try it out first, to make sure it hasn’t changed in such a way as to be incompatible with your users’ systems or workflows, and make sure that there aren’t any killer regressions for your users’ use cases. Once you have done the evaluation, then you can rename the installer executable to whatever you want, and propagate it to the end users using your normal IT-to-end-user workflow, which apparently requires that installer executable to always have the same name.

Andreas B Jensen

@peterjones
Hi, thanks so much for the answer. You are probably correct. Just that we got a ticket by a guy who was frustrated he could not update the software because of lacking admin rights, I will disable the notification

I have tried, uninstalling, reinstalling Notepad++ and it seems really robust at being up and running again and is quick. But you are on to something

And thankfully this software is on Github which gives many solutions and I will look into them

So here is the question, what is most important, outdated software with possible security holes or short disruption to employees?

For manual checking etc I can do this

powershell.exe -exectionpolicy bypass .\Install.ps1 -url "weburl/software-v3.2.exe

Using inside the script

pram("$url")

Then all I need to is change the url in the deployment software, instead of having to edit the script, repackage for each updates

Maybe I should make a notification list/system instead so I know when software have new updates

And again thanks. You seem like a very knowledgeable person

EDIT: Small fixes

PeterJones

@andreas-b-jensen said in Download link that doesn't change with new versions ( For app deployment):

what is most important, outdated software with possible security holes or short disruption to employees?

That is really up to the organization, not an outsider like me.

But in my experience, with Notepad++, there has only been one group of changes that were security related – that was the EU-FOSSA batch in v7.6.3. Notepad++ is not primarily an internet-facing or internet-interfacing application, so most “security” issues don’t affect Notepad++. So, for Notepad++ updates, if I were in charge of distributing to a group of users, I would prioritize doing a quick check to make sure that the end-user experience wouldn’t be disrupted, over getting the newest update to the end-user ASAP.

But it sounds like you have good ideas for how to implement things within your system; that’s great! Good luck.