[wpkg-users] Re-check of installed packages not possible

[Falko Trojahn]

Tomasz Chmielewski schrieb:
> Falko Trojahn wrote:
> 
> (...)
> 
>> In the meantime someone has deinstalled Office manually (yes, there are
>> guys out there doing this ;-)
>> and wpkg didn't notice this - or he upgraded to Office 2007 Beta, or
>> whatever.
> 
> 
> IMO system administrator should make sure that no one unauthorized
> removes software.
> If it's impossible for some reasons...
I didn't say this was no administrator ;-)

> 
> 
>> ... and so on - every patch hit the client with a dialog box and
>> notified him of not being able to install the
>> upgrade patch since the underlying product isn't installed.
>>
>> The problem here is, that
>>
>> a) wpkg didn't notice that Office XP isn't installed any more, and
> 
> 
> ...run wpkg with /force flag - it will try to reinstall everything - and
> if the check is successful, it will not install of course, but then it
> will notice "new" packages (like Office in your case).
> 
> 
>> b) if I manually remove e.g. msofficexp-SP3 with /remove, the
>> dependent packages aren't deinstalled, too. And
>>
>> c) if I manually reinstall with /install, wpkg "thinks" that the
>> patches for Office are installed, but
>>    does not reinstall them
>>
>> Only solution was to use /force, but this even tries to remove things
>> which aren't installed - not wanted here.
> 
> 
> All right, I see the problem (I actually started replying during reading
> the email).
> 
> You'd have to add Office to the profile, start WPKG, then remove Office
> from the profile, and start WPKG again, right?
> 
> 
>> I'd suggest
>>
>> - implement dependencies for removal, too (this hits another thing
>> again:   priorities for removal in opposite order to installation ...)
> 
> 
> Yep, removal is "broken" a bit, the order should be reversed.
> 
> 
>> - if the dependencies work, I can have something like     <check  ...
>> everytime="true" ... />   or
>>     <package id="...." ... check="always" ... />
>>   in a package, like the "msofficexp" package above. So, every time
>> wpkg is run, this check is done,
>>   and if the condition isn't met, the package isn't there, and can be
>> removed, and   all packages which depend from it, too.
>>
>> What do you think?
> 
> 
> I don't know if it wouldn't complicate all XML files? And if I think
> about a web GUI for WPKG, with that many non-intuitive options, well. :)
That's why I thought about a discussion first :)
Not everybody needs all options, that's why they are optional ;-)
Pro "package options" is for me: it could be determined more finer.
Contra: one option more for the xml. Perhaps a bit slower execution?

> 
> If I saw WPKG for the first time, I'd ask why is it necessary - why the
> packager doesn't know what packages are installed?
> We know the answer, but from the "average Joe" perspective, it might be
> a bit unclear. And average Joe might be right - Office is in Software
> Add/Remove, right?
> 
> As the tests are rather inexpensive, both in terms of system load and
> time, perhaps it would be a good idea to make checks for *all* available
> packages each time WPKG is started (unless overridden with something
> like /nochecks)?
Yes, I thought about that, too. But what would "average Joe" think about
this switch - "what's that for"? Perhaps the check should be done every
time, anyways.
Pro: check every time is perhaps better than not to check, since the
  problem often can be between keyboard and chair ... ;-)
Contra: another command line option ...

> 
> After all, wpkg.xml is really needed just for "execute once" and
> revisions for upgrades.
Yes, seems reasonable.

Falko