version-checker

Presentation

This tool checks the version of a software.

The original goal of this project was to reduce the problem of outdated MONARC servers. These servers are a potentially security problem.

This tool has been designed to work with any software, not only MONARC.

Installation

For installation guides see INSTALL.

Usage

Checking the version of a software

$ curl https://monarc-version-checker.herokuapp.com/check/MONARC?version=2.5.0
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<svg baseProfile="full" height="20" version="1.1" width="95" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:ev="http://www.w3.org/2001/xml-events" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><defs /><rect fill="green" height="20" width="95" x="0" y="0" /><g fill="white" font-family="DejaVu Sans" font-size="14"><text fill="white" font-weight="bold" x="5" y="15">up-to-date</text></g></svg>

$ curl https://monarc-version-checker.herokuapp.com/check/MONARC?version=2.4.0
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<svg baseProfile="full" height="20" version="1.1" width="140" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:ev="http://www.w3.org/2001/xml-events" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><defs /><rect fill="orange" height="20" width="140" x="0" y="0" /><g fill="white" font-family="DejaVu Sans" font-size="14"><text fill="white" font-weight="bold" x="5" y="15">update available</text></g></svg>

A SVG picture is rendered so that it is possible to include it in a Web page.

When a client reaches the check endpoint some information about the request are stored:

HTTP referrer URL (local or public hostname);
the version of the software;
information about the browser (User-Agent: browser name, version, language and platform).

The information sent by the client browser is only stored when the check endpoint is reached.

The IP of the requestor is not stored. Of course an HTTP referrer can be an IP (public or private). And since an HTTP referrer can be easily spoofed, it is impossible to be completely sure if any derived information is actually valid.

Asking about version information for a software

$ curl https://monarc-version-checker.herokuapp.com/version/MONARC
{"stable":"2.5.0"}

$ curl -sD - https://monarc-version-checker.herokuapp.com/version/monarc
HTTP/1.1 404 NOT FOUND
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 17
Server: Werkzeug/0.14.1 Python/3.6.6
Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2018 13:25:55 GMT
Via: 1.1 vegur

Unknown software.

Query the database with the command line tool

$ heroku run python src/manager.py logs MONARC
Running python src/manager.py logs MONARC on ⬢ monarc-version-checker... up, run.2944 (Free)

Software: MONARC
Software version: 2.5.0
HTTP Referrer: http://127.0.0.1:5001/
Browser: chrome
Timestamp: 2018-07-05 12:07:58.746161

Software: MONARC
Software version: 2.5.0
HTTP Referrer: None
Browser: firefox
Timestamp: 2018-07-05 12:08:09.234619

Query the database

curl http://127.0.0.1:5000/admin/logs/export?software=MONARC&software_version=2.5.0

The result will be a CSV file.

Contributing

Please read the CONTRIBUTING instructions.

License

This software is licensed under GNU Affero General Public License version 3

monarc-project/version-checker