Signed EWriter executable files

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Tim Frost
Posts: 319
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2004 11:45 pm

Signed EWriter executable files

Unread post by Tim Frost »

Is it possible to suppress the built-in "signatures" in EWriter executable files, which seems to have been introduced in version 8? It may sound like a good idea, but it is unhelpful for us.

First, although I can see some apparent signatures inside the file with an EXE viewing utililty, Windows does not show them in Explorer properties, so our users (and perhaps some AV companies) may regard the files as either unsigned or worse, corrupted after signing. Second, the signatures do not seem to protect anything: I can make edits in the file with a hex editor and then can still run the program without any consequence. So having a signature may sound good as a new feature, but it is not clear what it achieves.

Up to now we have been able to edit the version resource to show our own version number, matching every other executable in the build. We can still do this, but we cannot then add our own signature to validate the whole file. Our own signing utility says that it is unsafe to replace the signature block because it is not at the end of the file. Microsoft SIGNTOOl just reports an invalid Win32 executable, or in some cases just reports a numeric error code.

This is very much a backward step for us. A signature should always be applied as the final build step in order to have any useful purpose, but it looks as if we can no longer do this.
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Tim Green
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Re: Signed EWriter executable files

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Tim,

I'm checking this, but as of version 8 you should no longer be creating executable eWriter files yourself at all anyway. There is a new, signed, standalone viewer that you can rename and re-sign yourself if you wish and include in your own installation. You need to create data-only eWriter files with the extension .ewriter. That is now required for working with the standalone viewer.

Also, users on Windows 10 don't even need the viewer if they are just going to view .ewriter files. As soon as they try to open one they will be prompted to download the Windows Store version of the viewer. However, if you are using eWriter for help documentation it is better to use the Win32 version included with Help+Manual 8, which you can then integrate in your own installation.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Tim Frost
Posts: 319
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2004 11:45 pm

Re: Signed EWriter executable files

Unread post by Tim Frost »

Thanks; I am aware of the .ewriter format, and we have already used it to package up help for all the older major releases of our product. Making the ewriter files available for download has enabled the removal of the outdated on-line help from the website. When ewriter first came out we simply switched to the exe as a direct replacement for CHM and I was unaware, or had forgotten, that we may be able to own-label the standalone ewriter program instead. I will investigate what we need to change in order to use this.
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