Get latest release version number for safari, opera, ie and edge browser

Question

I am trying to figure out a rather stable way to programmatically determine the latest release version number of safari, opera, ie and edge browser.

It doesn't have to be failproof as it's only a nice-to-have-feature I can blend out whenever the result looks "suspicious".

• There seems to be no API or json/xml/csv download (is there?).
• I didn't want to rely on third parties handling that stuff manually.
• If possible I don't want to parse any website output.

I managed to retrieve chrome and firefox versions with the help of following ideas:

• extract a version number from a git repo
• parse a redirected link from a download button
• download the software and look for a version number in one of the info files
• parse an "internal" dashboard

Any sources or ideas would be highly appreciated!

Answer 1

As for Safari you could scan: https://developer.apple.com/library/iad/releasenotes/General/WhatsNewInSafari/Introduction/Introduction.html and grab the latest version number from <nav id="tocContainer">. Not exactly an API but perhaps kinda stable.

Answer 2

Why don't you use your software inventory tool and just build a query that compares and pulls the highest version since its likely at least one person will always have the newest version. We use lansweeper, but I am sure system center and a lot of other tools do quality scanning as well. The tool links each machines name, mac address, ip address, and software version.

On the dashboard you could show IE: Most Recent Version X Your Current Version X etc etc etc

Would be a few simple queries based on the dashboard viewers machine IP