[wpkg-users] [Bug 42] add a time parameter

[bugzilla-daemon at bugzilla.wpkg.org]

http://bugzilla.wpkg.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42


Rainer Meier <skybeam at users.sourceforge.net> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
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                 CC|                            |skybeam at users.sourceforge.ne
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--- Comment #7 from Rainer Meier <skybeam at users.sourceforge.net>  2008-01-12 20:44:08 ---
Let me write down what I think about this change...

I thought about it for a while and came to some conclusions. First of all WPKG
does not know how long a package needs for installation. There is also no way
to get any usable values from the package itself. Personally I don't like to
specify an estimated installation time within the package since this heavily
depends on too much parameters:
- Client hardware (RAM free, CPU, HDD speed...)
- Network transfer speed
- Additional installed packages (re-configuration, upgrading components...)

As a result any value you put there will be just a joke. Especially if you like
to publish packages on wpkg.org - which value you put in the install-time
field?
There would not be very helpful - and not worth the programming and maintaining
effort. Especially since it implies modifying the XML structure as well.

However that does not mean that I am against wpkg.js <-> WPKG client
communication. Just that I would strip it down to the basics and do some "lose
coupling".

- There is only a one-way communication from WPKG to WPKG client required in
order to allow WPKG client to display status messages.
- The most basic form of communication is STDOUT/STDIN.

I am thinking about printing some specially formatted messages to STDOUT so
WPKG client could parse them and display some messages. For example:
2008-01-12 20:30:00 - WPKGSTATUS Starting software synchronization
2008-01-12 20:30:02 - WPKGSTATUS Tasks: INSTALL 3; UNINSTALL 2
2008-01-12 20:30:03 - WPKGSTATUS Removing package: Mozilla SeaMonkey
2008-01-12 20:32:00 - WPKGSTATUS Removing package: QuickTime Lite
2008-01-12 20:32:00 - WPKGSTATUS Installing package: Mozilla FireFox
2008-01-12 20:33:30 - WPKGSTATUS Installing package: QuickTime Alternative
2008-01-12 20:35:00 - WPKGSTATUS Installing package: WinMerge
2008-01-12 20:36:10 - WPKGSTATUS Finished software synchronization

This would allow WPKG client to parse this messages and display its pre-login
banner with enhanced information like:
Software synchronization
Removing Mozilla SeaMonkey
(started at 2008-01-12 20:30:03, running since 30 seconds)
0% (1/5)
total time: 00:33
...
Software synchronization
Installing Mozilla Firefox
(started at 2008-01-12 20:32:00, running since 45 seconds)
40% (3/5)
total time: 02:45
...
Software synchronization
Installing WinMerge
(started at 2008-01-12 20:35:00, running since 10 seconds)
80% (5/5)
total time: 05:10
...
Software synchronization complete
done.
100%
total time: 06:02
-----

OK, I know that such a progress bar can be quite "jumpy" but at least it shows
the user some reaction (even if it is just a time counter which already cools
down people a lot in some cases).

I think this could be implemented quite quickly and will give the user some
more direct feedback of what is going on.

It's very simple but quite effective. Most of the information of my sample
dialog output can be easily be calculated by a few lines printed by WPKG.

If you agree then I will start to implement such messages and publish the exact
format definition. So somebody could start implementing the changes on WPKG
client.


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