Fix WinUtil's self-elevation when running windev.ps1 without administrator

[Cryostrixx]

Contributor Note

I decided to close this PR because, after waiting a significant period without any feedback or review, it became clear that my contributions weren't valued. Seeing other PRs prioritized over mine reinforced this feeling, and I’ve chosen to step away from contributing. I hope the review process improves to be more inclusive of all contributors, regardless of their contributor status.
PR status: Permanently closed and won't be reopened. Reason: The head repository has been deleted and won't be restored.

Type of Change

• New feature
• Bug fix
• Documentation update
• Refactoring
• Hotfix
• Security patch
• UI/UX improvement

Description

Problem

WinUtil Dev currently doesn't launch correctly when run as a non-elevated user.
The following error occurs when running irm https://christitus.com/windev | iex without elevation:

Changes

Summary

• Updated windev.ps1 to use Invoke-RestMethod <url> -OutFile <file_path> instead of using Invoke-RestMethod directly.
• Updated windev.ps1 to use Start-Process instead of Invoke-Expression when launching the downloaded WinUtil script.
• Updated windev.ps1 to no longer re-download WinUtil every time; now it only re-downloads when releases are modified.

Testing

I conducted thorough testing using both local execution and remote execution.
For remote execution, I used npm's http-server package to serve the script's directory with the following command:
http-server -p 4300 -c-1 C:\Users\#####\NoSync\Projects\Cryostrixx\forks\winutil\.staging\fix-windev-admin-elevation.

Results

Local Execution

Command: .\windev.ps1
Result: WinUtil launches successfully with no errors.

Command: .\windev.ps1 -Config "C:\Users\#####\Documents\Configs\winutil.json"
Result: WinUtil launches successfully and imports my config with no errors.

Remote Execution

Command: iex "& { $(irm http://127.0.0.1:4300/windev.ps1) }":
Result: WinUtil launches successfully with no errors.

Command: iex "& { $(irm http://127.0.0.1:4300/windev.ps1) } -Config 'C:\Users\#####\Documents\Configs\winutil.json'"
Result: WinUtil launches successfully and imports my config with no errors.

Impact

• Revised the synopsis at the top of the script to clarify the changes made and provide basic usage examples.
• Implemented the Get-WinUtilReleaseTag function to return the latest matching tag for WinUtil.
  • Supports both stable and pre-release tags, falling back to the latest tag when no releases are found.
• Implemented the Get-WinUtilReleaseURL function to return the download URL for the latest release of WinUtil.
  • Supports stable and pre-release URLs, and uses the latest release URL when no releases are found.
• Implemented the Get-LatestWinUtil function to download WinUtil to winutil.ps1 in the $env:TEMP directory.
• Implemented the Get-WinUtilUpdates function for updates, ensuring WinUtil is only re-downloaded when modified:
  • Supports upgrading WinUtil if the version of the remote script is newer than the version of the downloaded script.
  • Supports downgrading WinUtil if the version of the remote script is older than the version of the downloaded script.
• Implemented the Start-LatestWinUtil function for smoother launching of WinUtil using the appropriate process:
  • Windows PowerShell/PowerShell Core running in Windows Terminal.
  • Windows PowerShell/PowerShell Core running as a standalone app.
• Corrected the argument support to allow passing the arguments -Run, -Config, and -Debug correctly.

Issues related to PR

• Fixes Not loading Dev #2765

Additional Information

None.

Checklist

• My code adheres to the project's coding and style guidelines.
• I have performed a self-review of my own code.
• I have commented on my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas.
• I have made corresponding changes to the documentation.
• My changes generate no errors/warnings/merge conflicts.

[momcilovicluka]

Hello there @Cryostrixx ! 😊Nice work.
I left you a couple of suggestions to take into consideration.

[Cryostrixx]

Hello, @momcilovicluka! Thank you for the feedback! I wanted to let you know that I plan to retain a small amount of my original comments and code, but I’m currently working on adding your suggestions to the script.

[Cryostrixx]

Hello, @momcilovicluka! I implemented your changes, thanks so much for the feedback!
I've requested another review so you can take a look and verify that they are implemented correctly.

[momcilovicluka]

Hi! Good work and fast response. I tested running it with config and run argumetns and it is working. Also tested with old version and without winutil.ps1 in temp, and i saw no problems. Only thing i couldn't test is if pre-release is being detected correctly due to there being no pre-releases hosted.
Other tnan that, LGTM! 😊

[Cryostrixx]

Hello, @momcilovicluka! I've finalized the PR with four out of the five changes you suggested. If the changes look good to you, could you please approve them? I've really appreciated all of your feedback so far and want to make sure everything is correct.
Note: If you don't know how to approve it all you have to do is click Approve instead of Comment when reviewing the changes.
I hope this helps!

[momcilovicluka]

Hi @Cryostrixx 👋. Thank you for the kind words, you are really wholesome. I turned of the pc for the day as it's nighttime in my timezone, but I'll make sure to review first thing in the morning. I assume you already tested the changes in different ways to ensure everything is working correctly, so you can work on something else in the meantime. I'll review in about 8 hours.

[Cryostrixx]

Hi @Cryostrixx 👋. Thank you for the kind words, you are really wholesome. I turned of the pc for the day as it's nighttime in my timezone, but I'll make sure to review first thing in the morning. I assume you already tested the changes in different ways to ensure everything is working correctly, so you can work on something else in the meantime. I'll review in about 8 hours.

You're correct, I did that testing during development, I had to simulate the pre-release condition for the testing but considering the rest of the functionality was tested and verified as working it's safe to say pre-releases would work as well.

[momcilovicluka]

Hi! I just tested it for safety sake and it seems to be working fine. Given that you already tested it thoroughly and i have no complaints about the code, you implemented everything very well.

LGTM!