Remove the Update Notification feature from PowerShell - #28242

How will Linux installs that used tar.gz files be notified about an update being available ?

Seems like that use case was forgotten....

This PR closes this following discussion

• Removing the PowerShell Update Notification #27060

Joe S (@JoeSalmeri) - Put simply they won't be notified & users that are using that install method will need to look to implement their own update check & install logic. My feeling is that the team felt if users are using that method for install on linux or MacOS or zip installs on Windows then they should already be capable of managing their own update check & install process.

Which can be done in a few lines of PowerShell easily enough via calling either

• using the gh cli tool and gh release list --repo PowerShell/PowerShell
• the release api for this repo https://api.github.com/repos/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases
• via using the metadata.json file in this repo using sample code like this
  

  PowerShell/tools/install-powershell.ps1

  Lines 272 to 292 in 46f6096

  	$metadata = Invoke-RestMethod 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/master/tools/metadata.json'
  	if ($Preview) {
  	$release = $metadata.PreviewReleaseTag -replace '^v'
  	} else {
  	$release = $metadata.ReleaseTag -replace '^v'
  	}
  	if ($IsWinEnv) {
  	if ($UseMSI) {
  	$packageName = "PowerShell-${release}-win-${architecture}.msi"
  	} else {
  	$packageName = "PowerShell-${release}-win-${architecture}.zip"
  	}
  	} elseif ($IsLinuxEnv) {
  	$packageName = "powershell-${release}-linux-${architecture}.tar.gz"
  	} elseif ($IsMacOSEnv) {
  	$packageName = "powershell-${release}-osx-${architecture}.tar.gz"
  	}
  	$downloadURL = "https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v${release}/${packageName}"
  	Write-Verbose "About to download package from '$downloadURL'" -Verbose

GitHub

Removing the PowerShell Update Notification · PowerShell PowerShell · Discussion #27060

PowerShell currently includes an update notification that informs users when a newer version of PowerShell is available. This feature was originally introduced to help users discover new releases, ...

Ryan Yates (@kilasuit) - That seems like a leap to assume a typical user that downloaded a software package from Install PowerShell 7 on macOS once is ever going to go back and check it again manually.

It isn't like there haven't been significant CVE's that have needed patching recently that put Linux and macOS users at risk.

Feels like the 'security is a priority' focus went out the window with this decision.

This PR closes this following discussion

• Removing the PowerShell Update Notification #27060

Joe S (Joe S (@JoeSalmeri)) - Put simply they won't be notified & users that are using that install method will need to look to implement their own update check & install logic. My feeling is that the team felt if users are using that method for install on linux or MacOS or zip installs on Windows then they should already be capable of managing their own update check & install process.

Which can be done in a few lines of PowerShell easily enough via calling either

I already wrote a pwsh script to install a specific version pwsh version and I already check the releases website periodically to check for updates and read about changes, but the notification was also a reminder for me to check.

Thanks for the example script to check for update, I appreciate it.

Ryan Yates (Ryan Yates (@kilasuit)) - That seems like a leap to assume a typical user that downloaded a software package from Install PowerShell 7 on macOS once is ever going to go back and check it again manually.

It isn't like there haven't been significant CVE's that have needed patching recently that put Linux and macOS users at risk.

Feels like the 'security is a priority' focus went out the window with this decision.

I agree, seems like a bad decision but at least there is a way we can restore the functionality with a few lines of code.

This is a poor decision. Since I don't manage PowerShell through the Microsoft Store, I have no way of knowing if a patch is needed without the update notification. I don't understand why a perfectly normal function is being removed over a culture issue.