Notepad++ v8.8.3 Release Candidate

donho

While writing the release notes, I realized the both certificates (root certificate & code signing certificate) of RC4 have the same information while displaying:

Issued to: Notepad++
Issued by: Notepad++
Valid from 7/7/2025 to XXXXX

Only the the valid dates (to XXXXX) are different.

To avoid users’ confusion, I did a new root certificate and a new code signing certificate and signed the release again:
http://download.notepad-plus-plus.org/repository/8.x/8.8.3.RC5/

xomx

@donho said in Notepad++ v8.8.3 Release Candidate:

Only the the valid dates (to XXXXX) are different.

To avoid users’ confusion, I did a new root certificate and a new code signing certificate and signed the release again:

?, the shown “to XXXXX” remains different as before:

last root-cert: Valid from 7/9/2025 to 7/9/2055
cert in signed RC5 binary: Valid from 7/9/2025 to 7/9/2028

Root-certs usually have longer expiration date, I don’t see a problem with it.

donho

@xomx said in Notepad++ v8.8.3 Release Candidate:

Root-certs usually have longer expiration date, I don’t see a problem with it.

The point is on “Issued to” & “Issued by”: the information should be difference between 2 certificates.
It’s more clear in RC5 for users:

Root certificate: (Self-signed root certificate)

Code signing certificate (Code signing certicate issued by Self-signed root certificate)

xomx

@donho said in Notepad++ v8.8.3 Release Candidate:

The point is on “Issued to” & “Issued by”: the information should be difference between 2 certificates.

Ah, now I see it, thanks.

The important is, you left the code-signing one “Issued to” to be the Notepad++, so the possible future UAC pop-ups can say “Notepad++” as the “Verified publisher” (with the N++ cert in the Trusted Root CA) as it was before, right?

PeterJones

With the newest certificates and RC5, what I see is

Notepad++ Root Certificate
- General
  - Issued To: Notepad++ Root Certificate
  - Issued By: Notepad++ Root Certificate
  - Valid from 7/8/2025 to 7/8/2055
- Details
  - Thumbprint = c80539ff7076d22e73a01f164108dafbf06e45e4

And on the signing certificate with the RC5 binary, I see:

Notepad++
- General
  - Issued To: Notepad++
  - Issued By: Notepad++ Root Certificate
  - Valid from 7/8/2025 to 7/8/2028
- Details
  - Thumbprint = 7f517e235584afc146f6d3b44cd34c6cc36a3ab2

The dates are presumably different because of timezone differences, since early morning 7/9 in France was still 7/8 on the Western timezone in USA.

@donho, Please confirm whether these are the correct Thumbprints, according to your records.

donho

@xomx

The important is, you left the code-signing one “Issued to” to be the Notepad++, so the possible future UAC pop-ups can say “Notepad++” as the “Verified publisher” (with the N++ cert in the Trusted Root CA) as it was before, right?

Yes, exactly - if the root certificate is installed on users’ machine.

@PeterJones

I confirm the above information.

BTW, the root certificate will be available in GitHub repository as well:
https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/blob/master/nppRoot.crt

You might consider to include Notepad++ root certificate (nppRoot.crt) in npp-user-manual.org and also the following information:

Name: Notepad++ Root Certificate
Serial Number: 7A137FBEA48E8D469D2B43D49EBBCB21
Thumbprint: C80539FF7076D22E73A01F164108DAFBF06E45E4
SHA256: 443B4543C3A682804540849793556FFD3A6CE5D4721C9ADFDA6450223DDD54D7
Created: 2025-07-09
Expires: 2055-07-09

so users could have 3 sources to download the root certificate and do the croiss-verification.
It’s totally up to you. But if you do, please provide me the URL of nppRoot.crt - I will include it into my release note & Ressources page.

PGomersall

@donho said in Notepad++ v8.8.3 Release Candidate:

BTW, the root certificate will be available in GitHub repository as well:
https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/blob/master/nppRoot.crt

@donho nppRoot.crt is not found at that location

PeterJones

@PGomersall said in Notepad++ v8.8.3 Release Candidate:

nppRoot.crt is not found at that location

I think you missed two of Don’s words from his sentence: “the root certificate will be available” – “will be” implies future tense, so not yet.

–
update: an hour later, that file does exist at https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/blob/master/nppRoot.crt … so no more waiting

PeterJones

@donho said in Notepad++ v8.8.3 Release Candidate:

But if you do, please provide me the URL of nppRoot.crt - I will include it into my release note & Ressources page.

Sorry if I wasn’t fast enough for the Release Notes…

https://npp-user-manual.org/docs/certs/nppRoot.crt