[GNC] Request for help with GnuCash 4.1

[peterb]

>

On Fri, Aug 7, 2020 at 7:04 AM Fred Bone <Fred.Bone at dial.pipex.com> wrote:

> On 04 August 2020 at 20:43, David Jaggar said:
>
> > Hello to Whom this concerns:
> >
> > I'm not quite sure if I am sending this request to the correct place.
> > Anyway, I am wanting help with updating to the latest version 4.1 or even
> > 4.0 since the problem shows up there also. When I down load the software
> > on my computer using the very latest Windows 10 with upgrades, I get this
> > error message: "Blocked because program could have harmed your device" or
> > something to that effect. So I'm completely unable to upgrade Gnucash,
> > seemingly because it is a problem with the software itself.
> >
> > Would you be willing to please advise,
>
> I believe the best solution is to upgrade to Linux (or buy a Mac).
>

This is really unhelpful.  Can we not do this to people seeking
assistance in good faith?

David, in order to not trigger those warnings, the GnuCash project would
presumably need to sign their binaries (I'm not familiar with Win10
signing, but I assume it's at least possible).  A lot of open source
projects don't do this.  What GnuCash does do is release the SHA-256 hashes
of the executable in the release notes (see, for example, this page:
https://www.gnucash.org/news.phtml)

If you're worried, you could calculate the hashes yourself using a
downloadable problem on Windows or (what I'd do) use a service like
onlinemd5.com (see here for instructions provided by a different project:
https://www.openoffice.org/download/checksums.html).  If the checksums
match, then you have assurance that the file you got is the same as the one
that the GnuCash project says they're providing, and then the only
remaining question is "Do you trust them?" (Clearly, I do.)

Hope that helps.

-Peter