wingers
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:37 pm

Hosting of files relating to a software business e.g. installers (.msi, .exe) etc

Thu Sep 09, 2021 12:03 pm

I develop software and on my website have several downloads for my installers / updates etc - mostly MSI or EXE, some ZIP.

My hosting company has now (after one of the MSI files got wrongly flagged by clamAV as malicious) told me I can't host files like this with my website. Have done it for years so came as a surprise.

My question is - any recommendations as best place to host files such as this. Need to easily be able to add file URL to my website, and would like to track downloads etc (currently use ccount). Am also looking into moving my website to different host if that solves issue.

Also use Advanced Updater so needs to be in a location where I can easily provide an URL to use in my updates.txt file etc.

Just thought others here might be able to give some useful input.

I am UK based.

Liviu
Posts: 1026
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:29 am
Contact:  Website

Re: Hosting of files relating to a software business e.g. installers (.msi, .exe) etc

Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:54 am

Hi,

Unfortunately, we do not have a strong recommendation.

However, from our experience a consistent number of clients use Dropbox to host their setup packages and the .txt files for the Updater. They did not report such false positive detections.

On the other hand, I recommend you to try to ask your current hosting company about how to whitelist the false positive detection.

Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,
Liviu
________________________________________
Liviu Sandu - Advanced Installer Team
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wingers
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:37 pm

Re: Hosting of files relating to a software business e.g. installers (.msi, .exe) etc

Fri Sep 10, 2021 1:42 pm

H Liviu

Thanks for your reply.

I have asked host to whitelist - which they have done in past, but this time they are now saying I am not allowed to host files such as MSI or EXE on my website as it breaks the terms they impose. Hence asking for suggestions. It maybe that I just need to change to a different host, but appreciate the suggestion of Dropbox. I had also considered storing them on GitHub

wingers
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2017 5:37 pm

Re: Hosting of files relating to a software business e.g. installers (.msi, .exe) etc

Sat Sep 11, 2021 5:36 pm

I had also considered using GitHub as I see you have full integration for that.

But I assume with GitHub I could just store the files (updates.txt and update.msi) on GitHub and use the direct (raw) link it provides in my updates.txt in same way I do for my current webhost.

One question I do have related to this is what I do about all the existing installs of my app on client / customers computers as they will all have the wrong old 'Updates configuration file URL' path in Advanced Updater.

So would it be as simple as rolling out a new update (from current hosting location) of my app with the new correct URL specified in 'Updates configuration file URL', or is there another way of sorting this in situations where location of the updates configuration file has changed?

Liviu
Posts: 1026
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:29 am
Contact:  Website

Re: Hosting of files relating to a software business e.g. installers (.msi, .exe) etc

Tue Sep 14, 2021 1:15 pm

Hi,
So would it be as simple as rolling out a new update (from current hosting location) of my app with the new correct URL specified in 'Updates configuration file URL'
Yes, if you find a way to force an update with the new configuration file URL for all the old installs then it will work with no problems.

Another way for the older version already deployed is to ask your new hosting provider if you can keep the same URL as the previous one.

Hope this helps!

Best regards,
Liviu
________________________________________
Liviu Sandu - Advanced Installer Team
Follow us: Twitter - Facebook - YouTube

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