Listed version does not match downloads

[Taylor_Armstron]

Noticed this twice now. The notice of a new version (in this case version 50.0.2661.86) is listed on the discussion board, but the link ( https://dl.google.com/chrome/mac/stable/GGRO/googlechrome.dmg) still points to an old version... in this case, at least two versions old (49.0.2623.112). Also, the listed version does not match the latest that AutoPKG is pulling down. (have not dig into the recipe to find download path yet).

Any chance we can resist listing new updates until they are actually downloadable via the usual channels? I'm in the habit of putting the new (listed) version on our change control, but then tend to have egg on my face if I can't produce a package to match.....

[bainter]

Hi Taylor,

This is the second time this has happened where Google's own blog:

http://googlechromereleases.blogspot.com

Reports the release of the latest stable version (50.0.2661.86) yet try to download that from any Google source and you get the old version you cite (49.0.2623.112). Crazy. They are tweeting the accomplishment of version 50:

https://twitter.com/googlechrome/status/723302542138974209

I left two tweets letting them know of this mismatch since yesterday and no response. I speculate the person responsible for updating the link is on vacation.

[AVmcclint]

I've been pulling my hair out over this. Our InfoSec team is hounding me to get Chrome 50 installed on the Macs ASAP but the only version that seems to download is 49.0.2623.112. Hopefully they will make v50 available soon.

[Taylor_Armstron]

Not ideal, but I enabled auto-updates on my own machine, which pulled down v 50.0.2661.86. Then I just re-packaged and deployed. "Simple" enough, but really annoying when today (4/27) the download link on their website is still 49.x. (and AutoPKG is still seeing 49.x as well).

@AVmcclint : If InfoSec is on your case, probably worth throwing a VM up (or just using a test box), install Chrome, enable auto update, and then re-package it once it pulls down. The autoupdate process clearly uses a different URL - it was also interesting to use this to see which of our machines apparently had auto update enabled, since several machines were upgraded before I ever got my hands on version 50.x....

[mm2270]

Yes, its quite annoying when an announcement of an update is available and then its not. Google has done this before. I honestly think the team that updates their blog with announcements on updates, and the team that actually publishes those updates don't really communicate with each other. Classic case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.
And yes, its one of the issues I've seen with things like AutoPkg. Since its using a link to get the latest version, unless that link is updated accordingly, it won't see the new version. Its not just Chrome that this can happen to. Its happened to things like VLC as well.
I have scripts that pull down and install updates to products like Google Chrome and it runs into the same problem unfortunately. Really wish Google would make up their mind about what the "current" version is supposed to be.

[Nix4Life]

Hey Guys; there is definitely some weirdness. I rechecked my AutoPkg download and see that i have had v50.0.2661.75 since 14 Apr in the office, Had it at home since 22 Apr. Why would they step backwards and start offering v49, got to agree with Mike on this one. WTH Google

Larry

[AVmcclint]

Ironically Google, like every other major company with an Internet presence, doesn't have an 800# to call for tech support. Navigating their forums is an exercise in futility. Does anyone have a corporate support account with them to nudge them into fixing the issue?

[Taylor_Armstron]

And again... version 49.0.2623.112 is the latest available to DL, while the post claims 50.0.2661.91 is available. Ironically the "production" version listed is now newer than the "Beta" version listed.

My question is... who is posting this? Can we hold off until it is ACTUALLY available? I'm not listing this version for our change control, because the link provided DOES NOT DOWNLOAD THE VERSION LISTED.

[Taylor_Armstron]

And in this case... the version claimed as "current* (50.0.2661.91) isn't even mentioned on the blogspot link listed on the product guide. AKA - whoever posted the update isn't even saying where they saw it... because Google doesn't seem to know that version exists, even on their release update blog.

This is simply inaccurate, and misleading at this point in time.

[Taylor_Armstron]

@shawn.eberle - Can we please have some explanation on the versions?

[shawn_eberle]

@Taylor.Armstrong Hey Taylor, thanks for catching this, the versions have been released within the stable link: https://omahaproxy.appspot.com/history, which is what I am looking at. I have tried replacing the download url with the correct url several times. After digging it into some more, Chrome's download is not giving out the same version. If you update the browser or check for updates within Chrome is does update to the latest version. What a mess!! In the future I can wait until Chrome download becomes available if that will help?

[mm2270]

I see you posted on the chromereleases blogspot entry where version 50 was announced by Krishna Govind, as have a few others complaining that the d/l is still giving them the old version, and no-one from Google has responded now days later. Not surprised. Its typical of the non support Google offers on almost all of their products. If you have a problem with it, you're kind of SOL.

[mm2270]

Yes @shawn.eberle That's the issue that this entire thread has been discussing from the beginning. That Google has announced version 50, but no-one knows where to actually download it from since they've failed to update their links. Big FAIL on Google's part all around with this. As I've said, not the first time and won't be the last I'm sure.

[Taylor_Armstron]

@shawn.eberle Thank you! That definitely helps. I've had several weeks where I monitored this forum, saw an update, added it to our agenda for our weekly change control meeting... and then had egg on my face when I couldn't produce a package to deploy even after we'd approved its release.

I've also posted on Google's blogger release page asking them to get it synched, but we'll see if/when they ever do.

Appreciate it!

[shawn_eberle]

@mm2270 thanks for the help! this is going to be really interesting in the future!!

[mm2270]

@shawn.eberle Yeah, no kidding. You guys might need to add a step to your process where you download the package and just verify its showing the version that the website or vendor pages are showing so you know they match, before updating the Third-Party Products pages. That will add a bit of overhead to your process to say the least, but unfortunately, its hard to know what or who to trust these days. Its especially hard with Google Chrome since they insist on using a generic "stablerelease" link for any version of Chrome, so you can't even tell if its been updated since the link is always the same regardless of the actual version it pulls down. Ugh.
I find that super annoying and wish they'd have a more standard place where the latest version was posted in plain text, like an xml update file somewhere. You know, like the things that most normal vendors use. Wishful thinking, but I can hope.

[Taylor_Armstron]

Paging @mhasman ... please touch base with @shawn.eberle ....

(aka, someone (mhasman) just posted that 50.x is available again, but link still pulls 49.x down....)

[mm2270]

Well this illustrates one of the basic problems with JAMFNations 3rd Party Products pages. Anyone here can modify them. I can come on here and change the Office 2016 page to say that version 15.32.1 is available (I wouldn't of course, but I could, and nothing is stopping me) without a shred of proof that its actually there. If JAMF wants these product pages to be taken as a serious potentially authoritative source of information, they may have no choice but to lock them down to only JAMF employees or a few select forum members. Allowing anyone to come here and change them just makes everyone crazy.
Then again, maybe JAMF doesn't expect them to be taken seriously, and its only some folks here who seem to think they are always accurate when they in fact may not be!

Me personally, I don't rely on these at all. I do get the email notifications that they've been updated, but I go and verify things for myself before I actually believe it.

[mhasman]

@shawn.eberle My Google Chrome updated itself, and shows version 50.0.2661.94
That was a reason why I updated the product info. Sorry if that was done any wrong

[shawn_eberle]

@mhasman Hey there! No harm done on anybody's end here. I had the same results in my testing which is why I posted the update. The URL gave me the old version but when I updated through Chrome the result was correct. This lies the question for everyone, Which would you rather see: The version numbers posted as they come out or wait until everything is lined (URL works) and then post the update? Like @mm2270 mentioned I think most of us use this page as a guideline or a helpful tool for a quick link rather than our main source of update information.
Thanks for the feedback!

[Taylor_Armstron]

I think from my perspective... since I use Casper to manage my software updates (including Chrome), I'd rather see a version that I can actually DOWNLOAD and deploy. For config. management reasons, I disable auto-update on all my machines.

Ultimately, as mm270 pointed out... the problem is an internal one @ Google, we're just suffering the consequences.

[Taylor_Armstron]

Hah! I wonder if someone's paying attention to our rants :) As of today, I'm getting 50.0.2661.94 through AutoPKG and Google's own download link.

[shawn_eberle]

Perfect! I will double check the URL in Third-party Products too! Thanks @Taylor.Armstrong

[bpavlov]

In the future, if this happen again and you want the URL, you can run the following command on a computer that 1) has launched Google Chrome once, 2) Chrome is out of date, and 3) has the keystone updater in the user's home directory:

~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/MacOS/ksadmin --list
This will give you a bunch of details, one of them being the URL where you can download the latest version. In this case, it would look like this:

Available updates: (
        {
        arguments = "";
        fp = "1.42709d2eb4a9678009a2e822a4ca15d3c6e67a5a1e40fe0200f863b7bef2e083";
        kServerAllCodebaseURLs =         (
            "http://redirector.gvt1.com/edgedl/release2/chftkfrhc71u2bxj8smzbine3hwmosmgcqidiqm9bol802t3ahj5bgaud45a4larujqc55ftcfq6rkl31gff7oq820b6co1jdux/GoogleChrome-50.0.2661.94.dmg"
        );
        kServerCodeHash = "HqZGNlEK4TndxbffwvoWk9iKpQg=";
        kServerCodeHashSHA256 = 42709d2eb4a9678009a2e822a4ca15d3c6e67a5a1e40fe0200f863b7bef2e083;
        kServerCodeSize = 67723780;
        kServerCodebaseURL = "http://redirector.gvt1.com/edgedl/release2/chftkfrhc71u2bxj8smzbine3hwmosmgcqidiqm9bol802t3ahj5bgaud45a4larujqc55ftcfq6rkl31gff7oq820b6co1jdux/GoogleChrome-50.0.2661.94.dmg";
        kServerDisplayVersion = "50.0.2661.94";
        kServerProductID = "com.google.Chrome";
        needsadmin = false;
        status = ok;
    }
)

[spalmer]

I was able to finally download version 50 as well via http://chrome.google.com!!

[spalmer]

@bpavlov Awesome post. I kind of wondered if it was a caching issue with Google's cdn servers. I spent most of a day trying to figure out how to find a direct link and would have never thought to look at Google's software update tool.

I am just starting to play around with AutoPKG/AutoPkgr so this question may not even make sense. Is it possible to build a recipe that grabs Google's update tool and uses that to discover the correct download link on the fly?

[bpavlov]

Anything is possible. I suggested that very thing on the #autopkg channel on Slack but didn't really get anywhere.

I think it would require a new autopkg processor along with the app to be on the computer on which autopkg is run. I do know that the keystone updater is used for more than just Chrome so it would potentially cover Chrome, Drive, Photos, Hangouts Video plugin, and maybe others I might be forgetting. However it was suggested that instead you might as well just have a recipe that grabs the updated app from the /Applications folder which might be even easier and let keystone do its own thing in the background on its own schedule.

Different ways to skin the cat.

[sean]

@spalmer Kinda. You could have Chrome on the box that is running autopkg. You could also write a script that pulls that info, replaces the download url in the recipe with the result prior to running that recipe with autopkg.

[spalmer]

The problem I see with AutoPKG grabbing the installed copy of Chrome from the Applications folder is that it keeps the latest two versions inside of the app bundle. There is also temporarily a third copy if the download of the current version is in progress.