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stardot / b-em

An opensource BBC Micro emulator for Win32 and Linux
http://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10823
GNU General Public License v2.0
118 stars 58 forks source link

Is it worth considering signing the windows executable? #57

Open simondotm opened 6 years ago

simondotm commented 6 years ago

Running a new build of B-em.exe downloaded from GitHub onto Windows 10 triggers the Widows Defender Smart Screen. Apparently, digitally signing the exe with a consistent publisher allows MS to update their databases and make this less recurrent for installations.

https://www.codeproject.com/Questions/555248/Willplussigningplusanplusexecutablepluspreventplus

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SteveFosdick commented 6 years ago

It would certainly be nice to do this. Does that screen appear every time you run it or just the first time for a newly downloaded executable?

On a technical level do you know what tool is used to sign the executable? What about a source of the non-premium certficates?

Another thing to thiunk about is whether individual developers should each have certificates or whether we should have one for the stardot organisation as a whole. The latter would build reputation faster across multiple developers and multiple projects but does require more organisation.

simondotm commented 6 years ago

I'll check about frequency next time I install a new release. There's some chat here about how to sign executables, seems like can either find a free or paid CA, (there might be free options for open source projects). I'd imagine a Stardot publishing cert would make the most sense.