[Feature]: New host type: Generic Web Service

What is the installation method of your PatchMon server?

Proxmox-community script

What is the version of your PatchMon server?

2.0.2

Briefly describe the feature

A host type that detects available updates by scraping a URL

Detailed description

Add a host type that defines a new host by requesting a URL and a regular expression that, if present on the page retrieved, indicates an update is available. Optionally support authentication for retrieving the URL (e.g., stored username/password).

Optionally, the user might specify a URL that will immediately invoke an update, or a URL that will take the user to a page where they can initiate and manage an update if it can't be done with one click, or a URL that points at a vendor change-log page where information about any pending updates might be found.

Periodically, Patchmon would pull the URL and check to see if the regular expression matches the page content. If it does, the host is marked as having an update. Possibly a second optional regex would define security updates, if the web UI being polled distinguishes them. If the host has a one-click URL defined for applying updates, Patchmon would use that to patch the host. If not, the host can't be automatically patched with Patchmon, but clicking on the patch notification could take the user to the URL they've defined to access the system and apply the update manually.

This feature would let Patchmon relay "needs patching" information about a wide variety of devices and applications.

Why is this useful?

This would help manage IoT devices that don't run Linux or don't have an accessible command prompt to install the agent, especially devices that lack any other means of push notification to the end-user. An example would be a ratGDO garage-door-opener module running HomeKit firmware, which displays a notice when an update is available, but doesn't have a single-click update option. Because ratGDO doesn't have an app, it has no built-in way to push-notify users about updates--the user needs to manually log into the device via the web interface periodically to check for updates. That makes them prone to environmental drift, and Patchmon could help bring visibility to their patch state.