Suggestions and a donation

[morpheus]

Kovid,

Thanks for Calibre. I'm sending you $50 as I've found myself using your great software more and more.

Some suggestions from a software guy...

- Sign the Windows application. Vista's 'Unidentified program/Unknown publisher' dialog is a disincentive to install.

- Improve the metadata on the Windows app. Right now Vista doesn't know the publisher or version of Calibre. I believe if you sign the app and improve the metadata, then Windows firewall apps like Onecare won't keep cutting Calibre off because it recognizes it is the same application after an update.

- Seeing as you release so often, I'd really love to see a self update mechanism. The check is fine but a full automated install is really where you should be heading.

I know it's a PITA on Windows but Firefox does it cross platform. On OS X, Sparkle is a nice way to go. I realize this is a big ask for a cross platform app but it's worth thinking about because once you've done it, no user ever should be out of date again, which makes your life easier and increases the value of the entire installed base. Just food for thought.

Thanks again for your hard work.

Morph

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by morpheus

- Sign the Windows application. Vista's 'Unidentified program/Unknown publisher' dialog is a disincentive to install.

It cost money to get a signing certificate. Kovid does this in his spare time for free. I know he has used donation money to by devices to add support to.

BOb

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by morpheus

- Seeing as you release so often, I'd really love to see a self update mechanism. The check is fine but a full automated install is really where you should be heading.

Probably not simple to do cross platform. However, seeing as how your are a dev Kovid does happily accept patches.

BOb

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by morpheus

Kovid,

Thanks for Calibre. I'm sending you $50 as I've found myself using your great software more and more.

Much appreciated.

Some suggestions from a software guy...

- Sign the Windows application. Vista's 'Unidentified program/Unknown publisher' dialog is a disincentive to install.

Yeah I agree it would be good to have a signed app, but depending on how much it costs and how painful it is to integrate into calibre's build process, maybe. Do you have some resources you could point me at, as I know next to nothing about windows development.

- Improve the metadata on the Windows app. Right now Vista doesn't know the publisher or version of Calibre. I believe if you sign the app and improve the metadata, then Windows firewall apps like Onecare won't keep cutting Calibre off because it recognizes it is the same application after an update.

Hmm, I though was putting this into the application manifest. Again a pointer to how to do this right would be helpful.

- Seeing as you release so often, I'd really love to see a self update mechanism. The check is fine but a full automated install is really where you should be heading.

I know it's a PITA on Windows but Firefox does it cross platform. On OS X, Sparkle is a nice way to go. I realize this is a big ask for a cross platform app but it's worth thinking about because once you've done it, no user ever should be out of date again, which makes your life easier and increases the value of the entire installed base. Just food for thought.

Given how much work this is to develop and maintain, it's on my stack of "things to do if I there is ever a lull in calibre development". Unfortunately that stack is itself about a mile high.

[kiklop74]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Yeah I agree it would be good to have a signed app, but depending on how much it costs and how painful it is to integrate into calibre's build process, maybe. Do you have some resources you could point me at, as I know next to nothing about windows development.

Code signing certificates are expensive and must be renewed from time to time. The cheapest cerificates can be obtained here:

http://www.instantssl.com/code-signing/ ($166,95 USD per year)

I would suggest to start fund raising as you did with the devices. If you gather sufficient funds you could purchase certificate.

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Hmm, I though was putting this into the application manifest. Again a pointer to how to do this right would be helpful.

Manifest is not the only source of this kind of data. Actually you need to link in standard windows resource with filled VERINFO structure. What I do not know is how do you build your executable. I'm experienced in c++/delphi win32 development and can help you with those things. Contact me directly and we can continue this discussion in depth.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by kiklop74

Manifest is not the only source of this kind of data. Actually you need to link in standard windows resource with filled VERINFO structure. What I do not know is how do you build your executable. I'm experienced in c++/delphi win32 development and can help you with those things. Contact me directly and we can continue this discussion in depth.

calibre uses a package called Py2exe to generate the executable files, which are basically just stubs that load the python interpreter. Is there some tool that can be used to set the requisite metadata in an exe file, or does it have to be linked in at build time?

[kiklop74]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

calibre uses a package called Py2exe to generate the executable files, which are basically just stubs that load the python interpreter. Is there some tool that can be used to set the requisite metadata in an exe file, or does it have to be linked in at build time?

There are tools for setting such data but it is better to link them at build time.

[morpheus]

We use Globalsign for code signing certs. I hadn't realized how expensive they were though. $200 a year seems to be the cheapest you can get them for. I can see how this would be a problem given a tight budget.

Keep up the good work!

[kovidgoyal]

The version info will be correctly set in the executables for the next release.