[Distutils] The software update framework

[Thomas Güttler]

I stumbled over this page: https://theupdateframework.github.io/ I guess people interested in distutils might be interested in it. For people too lazy to click on links (like me), I copy+paste the content: A Framework for Securing Software Update Systems The Update Framework (TUF) helps developers to secure new or existing software update systems, which are often found to be vulnerable to many known attacks. TUF addresses this widespread problem by providing a comprehensive, flexible security framework that developers can integrate with any software update system. The framework can be easily integrated (or implemented in the native programming languages of these update systems) due to its concise, self-contained architecture and specification. Developers have so far implemented the framework in the Python, Go, Ruby, and Haskell programming languages. What is a software update system? Generally, a software update system is an application (or part of an application) running on a client system that obtains and installs software. This can include updates to software that is already installed or even completely new software. Three major classes of software update systems are: Application updaters which are used by applications use to update themselves. For example, Firefox updates itself through its own application updater. Library package managers such as those offered by many programming languages for installing additional libraries. These are systems such as Python’s pip/easy_install + PyPI, Perl’s CPAN, Ruby’s Gems, and PHP’s PEAR. System package managers used by operating systems to update and install all of the software on a client system. Debian’s APT, Red Hat’s YUM, and openSUSE’s YaST are examples of these. Our approach There are literally thousands of different software update systems in common use today. (In fact the average Windows user has about two dozen different software updaters on their machine!) We built a specification and library that can be universally (and in most cases transparently) used to secure software update systems. -- Thomas Guettler http://www.thomas-guettler.de/ I am looking for feedback: https://github.com/guettli/programming-guidelines

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