{"id":3432,"date":"2022-06-05T22:58:29","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T02:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/?p=3432"},"modified":"2022-06-05T22:58:29","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T02:58:29","slug":"its-alive-app-info-for-packagers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/?p=3432","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s Alive!  APP-INFO For Packagers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/TimMangan\/App-Info\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-3433\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/App-InfoGH-1024x546.png\" alt=\"App-Info Logo\" width=\"750\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/App-InfoGH-1024x546.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/App-InfoGH-300x160.png 300w, https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/App-InfoGH-768x410.png 768w, https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/App-InfoGH.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For years I have heard from customers and vendors in the packaging and application delivery businesses about how there isn&#8217;t a good place anymore to find information on applications.\u00a0 Long ago there was a good site (created by Bob Kelly) named AppDeploy but that was sold to a vendor and renamed to ITNinja and, well let&#8217;s just say it stopped getting great new community content for everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Several of us in the space have been talking about designing a new site the last couple of years but building and maintaining a community site is no small undertaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Given that Microsoft now hosts their own documentation on GitHub and has <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/contribute\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">built an ecosystem that anyone can propose updates to it<\/a>, I decided to &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/idioms.thefreedictionary.com\/bite+the+bullet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bite the bullet<\/a>&#8221; and use GitHub as a documentation repository for apps.<\/p>\n<p>Currently there are two parts to the site:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Information on Capture Filters<\/li>\n<li>Application Specific Information<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><strong>Capture Filters<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>This section of the site contains documentation that allows people to contribute file, registry, or process filter entries that they find useful during an installation capture experience.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s build a really great list for all of us!<\/p>\n<p>I have seeded this with my own set of file and registry filters.\u00a0 For each, this includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The item.<\/li>\n<li>What it is used for.<\/li>\n<li>Any known issues with excluding it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Applications<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-3434 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-app-info-300x230.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-app-info-300x230.png 300w, https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-app-info-768x590.png 768w, https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-app-info.png 781w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>This section of the site is for documentation of Applications. This means Windows Apps right now.\u00a0 Each application receives its own folder.\u00a0 I have seeded this with a list of over 50 applications (including both App-V and MSIX packaging results).<\/p>\n<p>There is a template folder with files to copy from, but for each application we hope to capture the following information:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>ReadMe.md<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-3435 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-GitHub2-300x188.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-GitHub2-300x188.png 300w, https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-GitHub2-1024x640.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-GitHub2-768x480.png 768w, https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-GitHub2.png 1148w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>This is the default page to display about the app when found in the previous list.\u00a0 This file is a summary file for the application. In should include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Application and Vendor details<\/li>\n<li>A general description of the purpose of the app.<\/li>\n<li>Type of license.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>A link to website to find installers.<\/li>\n<li>Types of installers\/packages offered by the vendor.<\/li>\n<li>Where the app stores configuration (file and\/or registry).<\/li>\n<li>Summary of repackaging experiences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>InstallConfig.md<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-3440 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-GitHub4-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/>This page should capture information on the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Recommended and known command line options for silent\/passive installation.<\/li>\n<li>Recommendations on package pre-configurations typically interesting in Enterprise repackaging.<\/li>\n<li>Links to alternative sites with information on silent installation (such as <a href=\"https:\/\/silentinstallhq.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SilentInstallHQ.com<\/a> ).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Under consideration is adding links to other great independent sites like <a href=\"https:\/\/stealthpuppy.com\/evergreen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aaron Parkers Project Evergreen<\/a>, which provides PowerShell based automatic discovery for when certain vendors make updates available, as well as possible integrations to downstream deployment tooling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Testing.md<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This file is for capturing the steps for a minimal &#8220;smoke test&#8221; of the recaptured application.\u00a0 It isn&#8217;t intended to be a full User Acceptance Test, but just the quick basics of how you determine the app is ready for UAT.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Packaging Results<\/strong> <strong>Tests<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For any repackaging that you do, you can add a result file.\u00a0 In that file, you would include things like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Special steps taken to configure the repackaging tool(s) for this app.<\/li>\n<li>Special steps taken in the installation\/configuration due to the tooling or final runtime environment (such as virtualization\/layering\/containerization).<\/li>\n<li>Results from the smoke test.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Testing results are conveyed in a simplified color coded form of the criteria that I used in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/AppV\/en\/resources\/report-cards\/129-reportcards\/592-request-form-msix-report-card-21h2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The MSIX Report Card<\/a>.\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3436\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-GitHub3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"982\" height=\"622\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-GitHub3.png 982w, https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-GitHub3-300x190.png 300w, https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screenshot-GitHub3-768x486.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 982px) 100vw, 982px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>The ASK:<\/h2>\n<p>I have done my job of creating and seeding the site with a bunch of apps already.\u00a0 Here is what we need you to do.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>So please check out the site at <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/TimMangan\/App-Info\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/github.com\/TimMangan\/App-Info<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Read what it takes <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/TimMangan\/App-Info\/tree\/main\/Templates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to be a contributor<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Sign up for a free GitHub account and become a contributor.<\/li>\n<li>Let everyone know about this and encourage them to do the same.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For years I have heard from customers and vendors in the packaging and application delivery businesses about how there isn&#8217;t a good place anymore to find information on applications.\u00a0 Long ago there was a good site (created by Bob Kelly) named AppDeploy but that was sold to a vendor and renamed to ITNinja and, well&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/?p=3432\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">It&#8217;s Alive!  APP-INFO For Packagers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,53,57],"tags":[4,52,63],"class_list":["post-3432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appv5","category-msix","category-packaging","tag-app-v","tag-msix","tag-silentinstall","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3432"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3442,"href":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432\/revisions\/3442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tmurgent.com\/TmBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}