discord-autoupdate-secure 1.4.0

Secure Discord updater that verifies transport/checksums and can hijack the desktop launcher.

discord-autoupdate-secure

discord-autoupdate-secure makes the Linux Discord client behave like a trusted, self-updating application: every launch verifies the transport, checksums the .deb, installs only if it matches Discord’s own digest, and then hands control back to the regular app. It also ships with a shortcut bootstrapper so the stock “Discord” icon routes through this hardened updater.

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Quick start (recommended flow)

1. Install the CLI (isolated)
   Use pipx (preferred):

   pipx install discord-autoupdate-secure
   

   Or pip in user mode:

   pip install --user discord-autoupdate-secure
   

   Installing into system site-packages with sudo pip is discouraged.

2. Bootstrap the desktop shortcut (installs Discord if needed)

   discord-autoupdate-secure --bootstrap
   

   This installs Discord when missing and rewrites the launcher for the current user. Run once per user account; the pip install step does not touch desktop files.

3. Launch Discord normally
   Use your desktop’s Discord shortcut as usual. It now runs discord-autoupdate-secure first, which checks for updates, elevates when approved, installs if required, and finally launches Discord.

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What the bootstrapper changes

Running --bootstrap drops a managed discord.desktop into ~/.local/share/applications:

• The tool clones the current Discord desktop entry when possible so icons, categories, translations, and Flatpak/Snap flags remain intact.
• Only the Exec= line is rewritten to point at discord-autoupdate-secure; any original command-line options are preserved.
• Existing user-level entries are backed up as discord.desktop.bak, .bak1, etc. so you can revert if needed.
• If Discord is not installed yet, the bootstrapper downloads and installs the latest .deb first so the icon and desktop metadata exist before rewriting the launcher.
• Menus that honor the FreeDesktop spec (GNOME, Xfce/Xubuntu, KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, Budgie, etc.) automatically pick up the change. Reopen your menu or log out/in if you don’t see the new entry immediately.
• Re-run discord-autoupdate-secure --bootstrap whenever you want to refresh or repair the shortcut.

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Everyday commands

Command	Purpose
discord-autoupdate-secure	Check for updates, install if needed, then launch Discord.
discord-autoupdate-secure --update	Update Discord only; do not launch afterward.
discord-autoupdate-secure --check	Print installed vs. latest versions without installing.
discord-autoupdate-secure --bootstrap	(Re)install the managed desktop shortcut for the current user.

During an update the tool uses Tk to confirm you actually want to elevate. Redirects that leave Discord-owned domains or downloads that fail the MD5 digest published by Discord are rejected with an explanation.

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Troubleshooting

• “Could not find Discord executable.” The CLI expects discord (or Discord) in your PATH. If you installed via Snap/Flatpak, ensure the binary is exposed or edit the desktop file to point to the wrapper you use.
• “Refusing untrusted download host.” Captive portals and filtering proxies sometimes rewrite the download URL. Retry on a trusted connection and make sure discord.com resolves correctly.
• Checksum mismatch / dpkg failure. The .deb may have changed mid-download or your package database is in a bad state. Run discord-autoupdate-secure --update from a terminal to see full logs, then inspect /var/log/apt/term.log.
• Desktop icon didn’t change. Run discord-autoupdate-secure --bootstrap again, then refresh your desktop database via update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications or log out/in.

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Publish to PyPI

This project uses the same lightweight workflow as ../wove.

1. Create ~/.pypirc with your PyPI/TestPyPI API tokens.
2. Bump the version in pyproject.toml and rebuild any artifacts if needed.
3. Run the helper script (it activates .venv, installs the publish requirements, and mirrors the wove process):

   ./publish.sh
   

   The script wipes dist/, installs build and twine, runs python -m build, and uploads everything in dist/ via twine upload.

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Contributing & support

Pull requests and issues are welcome. Please include:

• Distribution and desktop environment.
• The exact command you ran plus the console output (scrub secrets).
• Whether the failure happened before or after privilege escalation.

Contributions that expand verification coverage or add reliable tests are especially valuable.