Sign Your Apps

Jeff Keacher:

Then two days ago, I was testing some changes to the web site in Internet Explorer and decided to try downloading the installer.  A big, scary, red warning box popped up […]

I think this blog post is titled incorrectly. Internet Explorer isn’t really the problem here.

So how do you fix that problem? One way is to wait for the installer to “age” a sufficient length of time, but the specifics are murky, and the problem comes back when a new installer is released.

The better solution is to get a code-signing certificate and sign the installer. StartSSL had what appeared to be the best prices, so I parted with some money and got a certificate.

The real moral of the story is that your code and/or installer needs to be signed. The last time I worked on an installable software product was pre-Windows 7 and we never would have thought about releasing an installer without signing the installer—especially after testing.

This is only going to be more prevalent with Gatekeeper coming to Mac OS and the increased security I am sure has found its way into Windows since Vista.

Back to IE: I think you should test in it—and I think the best thing Microsoft could do for IE and making sure things work with it would be to release it for Mac.

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