Unique download urls (for Chocolatey package)
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Unique download urls (for Chocolatey package)
Hi there,
I maintain the Chocolatey package for PDF-XChange Editor, which makes it really easy to automatically install and update software.
Chocolatey are now preferring that packages include a hashcode of the referenced binary files as a way of validating that the download has not been tampered with. The Chocolatey package just contains a link to your download URL, it doesn't include the binary.
The problem is that the download URLs for PDF-XChange Editor don't change when a new version is released, which means that if someone tries to use Chocolatey to install it when a new version has been published (but the Chocolatey package metadata hasn't been updated) then they'll get an error indicating the hashes don't match.
If it was possible for you to publish downloads which contained the version number in the URL, this would avoid that problem. eg. something like:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/downlo ... .1.x86.msi
David
I maintain the Chocolatey package for PDF-XChange Editor, which makes it really easy to automatically install and update software.
Chocolatey are now preferring that packages include a hashcode of the referenced binary files as a way of validating that the download has not been tampered with. The Chocolatey package just contains a link to your download URL, it doesn't include the binary.
The problem is that the download URLs for PDF-XChange Editor don't change when a new version is released, which means that if someone tries to use Chocolatey to install it when a new version has been published (but the Chocolatey package metadata hasn't been updated) then they'll get an error indicating the hashes don't match.
If it was possible for you to publish downloads which contained the version number in the URL, this would avoid that problem. eg. something like:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/downlo ... .1.x86.msi
David
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Re: Unique download urls (for Chocolatey package)
Hi David,
Thanks for the post - I'm sorry to hear that this is causing issues, but I'm afraid that this is not something that we would change. Only links to old releases contain version numbers, so as to make it more obvious to clients that the release they are downloading is the latest.
Thanks,
Thanks for the post - I'm sorry to hear that this is causing issues, but I'm afraid that this is not something that we would change. Only links to old releases contain version numbers, so as to make it more obvious to clients that the release they are downloading is the latest.
Thanks,
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.
Best regards
Will Travaglini
Tracker Support (Europe)
Tracker Software Products Ltd.
http://www.tracker-software.com
Thank you.
Best regards
Will Travaglini
Tracker Support (Europe)
Tracker Software Products Ltd.
http://www.tracker-software.com
Re: Unique download urls (for Chocolatey package)
What about a compromise and posting versioned URLs in addition to the non-version ones?
That way you keep the status quo (and don't break existing links) but also solve the Chocolatey issue at the same time
That way you keep the status quo (and don't break existing links) but also solve the Chocolatey issue at the same time
- Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: Unique download urls (for Chocolatey package)
Hello flcdrg,
Actually we do have permanent links for each build as well. E.g. this is the link to the Editor build 318 that will always be for build 318:
http://www.docu-track.co.uk/builds/6.0. ... DFXVE6.zip
Please note though that this is on a limited bandwidth server unlike our main download page - so the result might not be ideal if there are hundreds of simultaneous updates through that Chocolatey too.
Regards,
Stefan
Actually we do have permanent links for each build as well. E.g. this is the link to the Editor build 318 that will always be for build 318:
http://www.docu-track.co.uk/builds/6.0. ... DFXVE6.zip
Please note though that this is on a limited bandwidth server unlike our main download page - so the result might not be ideal if there are hundreds of simultaneous updates through that Chocolatey too.
Regards,
Stefan
Re: Unique download urls (for Chocolatey package)
That's just what I wanted! If you have a look at https://chocolatey.org/packages/PDFXchangeEditor, there's not heaps of downloads so I don't think it will 'break the bank'
Thanks!
Thanks!
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Re: Unique download urls (for Chocolatey package)
Glad we could help!
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.
Cheers,
Patrick Charest
Tracker Support North America
Thank you.
Cheers,
Patrick Charest
Tracker Support North America
Re: Unique download urls (for Chocolatey package)
Hi folks.
I've noticed a couple of issues with the Chocolatey package recently and wondering if there have been some changes at your end that might be affecting things?
1. The fallback downloads don't seem to work any more. eg. http://www.docu-track.co.uk/builds/9.1.355.0/EditorV9.x64.msi now just seem to redirect to https://www.pdf-xchange.com/. Is there a different URL that should be used for downloading old versions?
2. I've see a few cases where the 'fixed' download binary appears to have been modified (but the version number doesn't change). Is this normal?
eg. Version 9.1.356.0 originally had a UTC timestamp (from your download server)
$lastModified32 = New-Object -TypeName DateTimeOffset 2021, 7, 20, 1, 56, 54, 0 # Last modified time corresponding to this package version
$lastModified64 = New-Object -TypeName DateTimeOffset 2021, 7, 20, 1, 57, 36, 0 # Last modified time corresponding to this package version
But if I re-run my updating script, it's now returning a more recent timestamp for the same files. eg.
$lastModified32 = New-Object -TypeName DateTimeOffset 2021, 7, 20, 3, 17, 20, 0 # Last modified time corresponding to this package version
$lastModified64 = New-Object -TypeName DateTimeOffset 2021, 7, 20, 3, 15, 50, 0 # Last modified time corresponding to this package version
David
I've noticed a couple of issues with the Chocolatey package recently and wondering if there have been some changes at your end that might be affecting things?
1. The fallback downloads don't seem to work any more. eg. http://www.docu-track.co.uk/builds/9.1.355.0/EditorV9.x64.msi now just seem to redirect to https://www.pdf-xchange.com/. Is there a different URL that should be used for downloading old versions?
2. I've see a few cases where the 'fixed' download binary appears to have been modified (but the version number doesn't change). Is this normal?
eg. Version 9.1.356.0 originally had a UTC timestamp (from your download server)
$lastModified32 = New-Object -TypeName DateTimeOffset 2021, 7, 20, 1, 56, 54, 0 # Last modified time corresponding to this package version
$lastModified64 = New-Object -TypeName DateTimeOffset 2021, 7, 20, 1, 57, 36, 0 # Last modified time corresponding to this package version
But if I re-run my updating script, it's now returning a more recent timestamp for the same files. eg.
$lastModified32 = New-Object -TypeName DateTimeOffset 2021, 7, 20, 3, 17, 20, 0 # Last modified time corresponding to this package version
$lastModified64 = New-Object -TypeName DateTimeOffset 2021, 7, 20, 3, 15, 50, 0 # Last modified time corresponding to this package version
David
- Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: Unique download urls (for Chocolatey package)
Hello David,
Yes - the older builds are now served from
https://builds-archive.pdf-xchange.com/9.1.xxx
As for the timestamp change - I am not aware of any changes to the build itself! I think there were some additional files downloaded (e.g. there are some country specific download packages) - so maybe the upload of those updated the timestamp for all the other files!
Kind regards,
Stefan
Yes - the older builds are now served from
https://builds-archive.pdf-xchange.com/9.1.xxx
As for the timestamp change - I am not aware of any changes to the build itself! I think there were some additional files downloaded (e.g. there are some country specific download packages) - so maybe the upload of those updated the timestamp for all the other files!
Kind regards,
Stefan
Re: Unique download urls (for Chocolatey package)
Thanks. I'll update newer packages to use that URL.
Is there any way you could set up a redirect from the old URL? Because Chocolatey packages are 'immutable' once they've been published, unfortunately I can't go back and fix the existing ones.
David
Is there any way you could set up a redirect from the old URL? Because Chocolatey packages are 'immutable' once they've been published, unfortunately I can't go back and fix the existing ones.
David
- Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: Unique download urls (for Chocolatey package)
Hello flcdrg,
I am afraid that there are no plans currently for such redirects - but I can ask. Please note this is not a promise that we will do this, so users of older Chocolatey builds might need to be advised to update.
Kind regards,
Stefan
I am afraid that there are no plans currently for such redirects - but I can ask. Please note this is not a promise that we will do this, so users of older Chocolatey builds might need to be advised to update.
Kind regards,
Stefan