Bug#442225: installer triggers anti-virus detection

[Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com>]

On Fri, Sep 14, 2007 at 01:46:19PM +0200, Lars wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> > Thank you for your report, but this is not a bug in win32-loader.  The file
> > that triggers this is in fact in nsis, but it's not a bug in nsis either.
> 
> I do not know about.
> Just for the annoyance: "wasn't it shipped with win32-loader"?

What do you mean?

> > You should contact the authors of Trend Micro OfficeScan explaining them they
> > missidentified nsisdl (an nsis component) as a virus.
> 
> I tried some minutes ago, but these ugly companies seem to try to make it very
> hard for users/customers to give feedback ..

So if the problem boils down to:

  - Software that breaks legitimate programs.
  - License (and lack of source code) that prevents you from fixing it.
  - Author that makes it very hard for users to give feedback.

Then consider not using their software.

> I understand that this is technically not the fault of win32-loader.
> 
> But I also think that the problem is:
> 1) hard to detect for testers: is it likely that free software people have a
> non-trivial windows setup at their hands?
> 2) hard to detect for windows users: reporting bugs to debian packages is not
> the most trivial thing in this world
> 3) not limited to "Trend Micro OfficeScan": I guess, most anti-virus programs
> use similar heuristics?
> 4) severe: I guess, most windows users have at least one anti-virus program
> installed - they will have a hard time to get the program running
> 
> Since I just like win32-loader, but I am not soooo much interested, I decided to
> not take the effort and report this to the anti-virus manufacturer. Besides
> that: a similar effort is necessary for other anti-virus suppliers, too. So I
> felt like wasting my time by talking to just one of them.
> 
> Sorry - I just wanted to inform you about the issue (due to my guessing, that
> reports for this problem would be rare).
> If you decide, that this is not an issue for win32-loader, then it will be that
> way ...

Of course it is a problem, but I don't see anything we can do in win32-loader
(well, actually nsis) about it.

-- 
Robert Millan

<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)