Signing pre-release builds

[jul...@assembla.com]

Hi, TSVN devs.

We at Assembla want to offer pre-release versions of TSVN built from the 'shelve' branch and/or the trunk (hopefully we will merge it to trunk soon) from time to time, for users to get early access to new features, a bit like your existing nightly builds but more selective and more tested.

Currently, the installer that is built on our server is not signed. This results in "Unknown publisher" message shown when installing the app. It looks like your nightly builds are also unsigned.

We are not sure what all the technical and social implications of signing are, and not yet decided how important signing is for us, so we are looking at all options and would appreciate your advice.

Can you give me a quick idea why we should or should not sign it?

If we do want it signed, then should we do it ourselves following MS procedures for buying and using our own signing certificate(s), or is there another option, for example possibly you signing a nightly build occasionally on request?

Thanks,
- Julian

[Stefan]

The nightly builds should be signed, but there's a problem with the signing certificate so most of the time, the signing fails.

Signing has the advantage that when installing, you'll get a nicer dialog from Windows, i.e. the warning is not as severe as if it wasn't signed.
Also, users can verify that the download hasn't been tampered with.

If you want to sign the binaries and the installler, create a file named "signinfo.txt" in the WC root, and put your cert info in that file:
/I "Certificate-Name" /a /t "http://signing.time.server/" /d "TortoiseSVN" /du "http://assembla.com" /q
Then the build script will find that file and automatically sign all files during the build.

In case your signing certificate comes with a chip/usb-stick and requires a password for every signing, you can install this little tool:
https://www.mgtek.com/smartcard
and follow the instructions on how to install and configure it.

and then in the default.build.users file add the line
    <property name="signtool" value="scsigntool.exe" />

this will make the build script use the smartcard signing tool which automatically enters the password so the build script can run unattended.