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Software Catalog

Software Catalog, or simply Catalog, is a centralized repository of approved software that is safe to use in your organization. It allows you to browse and filter available software, review detailed information, and download approved versions directly to your device without helpdesk assistance.

The Catalog helps you:

  • find software available to your Portal group
  • check software metadata and overview information
  • download the latest approved version of the software
  • share your feedback by liking or disliking software

Software in the Catalog is organized by the platform it was developed for. When adding software to the Catalog, users should ensure the platform information is accurate. Only packages with at least one approved version can be published to the Catalog. This helps to enforce the approval requirements for your Organization on the software available for download.

Users with the appropriate roles can add or remove approved software from the Catalog. Portal curators can also see all packages that have at least one uploaded version, while ordinary Portal users see only software that is available in the Catalog.

Navigating the Catalog page​

All pages on the Portal share a header from which you can switch between various groups you belong to, and the tabs for each Portal page you can alternate between: File Stream, Projects, Catalog, Insights, and Policies.

The Catalog page is divided into two main parts:

The sidebar is collapsible, allowing you to focus on the Catalog contents.

The content of the software catalog depends on the group you're currently in. If you're a member of multiple groups, switching between different groups also switches the catalog you're viewing.

Software in the Catalog is organized by the platform the software package is developed for. Each platform category contains the architecture sub-category, which can further be expanded to reveal the available package extensions.

The extent of available sub-categories depends on the information for the software available in the Catalog. Selecting a platform, architecture, or extension displays only the software developed in this format, so users can promptly find what they're looking for.

Sidebar organization

The information on platforms, architectures, and extensions is provided by users when uploading to Projects. This means that users need to make sure to always provide correct information to keep the Catalog neatly organized.

Catalogs​

On the Portal, there are two types of catalogs, each serving a different purpose:

  • Group catalog, for regular Portal users to download packages from their group approved by their Organization Administrators, Group Owners, and Maintainers (i.e., group catalog curators)
  • ReversingLabs catalog, for group catalog curators to pick and import RL-approved packages into their Group catalogs for each Portal group

Group catalog​

Group catalog contains different types of packages depending on the user role:

  • for Organization Administrators, Group Owners, and Maintainers, the Catalog contains all packages uploaded to projects for the current group on their Portal instance
  • ordinary Portal users see only those packages that have been published to the Catalog

This catalog is curated by Organization Administrators, Group Owners, and Maintainers, who can:

  • manage which packages and their versions are included in the catalog
  • edit information on packages (package name and short description)
  • add full package description
  • change package approval status

ReversingLabs catalog​

The ReversingLabs catalog contains packages that group catalog curators can import into their Group catalog. It is curated by ReversingLabs, who determines which package versions are available for import.

Organization Administrators, Group Owners, and Maintainers can populate their Group catalog by enabling automatic imports of new versions as they become available or by manually importing new versions.

Whether an imported version is approved and included in the Group catalog depends on the policy configuration of the Portal instance. If auto-approval is enabled and the version meets the approval criteria, it is automatically added to the Group catalog upon import. Otherwise, group catalog curators must manually approve the version before it can be published to the Group catalog.

Using the Catalog​

Use the Search bar to search for software packages by name. You can further refine the results using the following filters:

  • Category
  • Publisher
  • License

Group catalog curators can also filter:

  • Group catalog by Catalog presence
  • ReversingLabs catalog by Import state

You can also change the order of the results using the Sort By dropdown. Results can be sorted by:

  • the number of likes and dislikes (Popularity)
  • the software release date (Release date)

For Group catalog, its entries can also be sorted by the number of downloads (Downloads).

Each catalog entry is displayed as a software card, which provides additional information about the software package.

Software cards​

Each software card in the Group catalog contains:

  • Header
    • icon containing the package file format
    • package name that leads to the Package details page when selected
    • approval status that shows information on user, role, and time of approval when hovered
    • version number
  • Details
    • PURL
    • publisher
    • release date
    • number of downloads
    • short description that can be edited on the About tab for the package on the Projects page
  • Footer
    • like and dislike buttons that affect the Popularity sort
    • download button that automatically downloads the latest approved version

For Catalog curators:

  • the Edit icon is displayed next to the package name in the header, which allows them to manage versions
  • when no version is approved, the card footer also contains explanation on why the version cannot be added to the Catalog and a link to the Projects page from which you can approve any of available versions for that package

Package details​

Clicking on a package name in the software card leads you to a separate page for that specific software package. From this page, you can:

  • Manage package versions. This automatically transfers you to that package on the Projects page
  • Unpublish the package from the catalog. This is available only for packages that are published to the Catalog
  • Like or dislike the package. This provides feedback on the package to the catalog curator and influences the Popularity sort
  • Download the package. This always downloads the latest approved version
  • See information on the package.

The availability of these actions depends on the user role you were assigned.

This page is divided into the following parts:

  • Detailed software card, with the same information as the software card on the main catalog page, in addition to: platform, architecture, category
  • Download card, with a total number of package downloads, the version that'll automatically be downloaded, a copiable SHA256 hash, and a Download button with a dropdown that allows you to select which of the available versions you want to download
  • About card, with a detailed package description, if the group catalog curator provided one via the Projects page. Group catalog curators can select Edit button, which leads to the About section of the package page in Projects. From there, both the short and the full description for the package can be edited

Next steps​

To learn how to work with software packages on the Catalog page, go to the Catalog workflows page.