[wpkg-users] Old version reinstall - WPKG is nice but it still needs improve

[Rainer Meier]

Hi Falko,

Falko Trojahn wrote:
> Yes, but sometimes we have applications, you know, only working with
> administrator rights ...

I know - these are the ones to be replaced by a properly programmed 
solution ;-)


> Instead FF does the update without prior notification now ... and only
> asks if you want to restart now or later =8<<

Not in case you don't have the access rights - ie no Administrator user.


> But this seems even unpossible to me, since in the properties of
> firefox.exe we have a "file version" changing from "1.8.1.12: 2008020121"
> to "1.8.20080.31114"  and a "product version" changing from 2.0.0.12 to
> 2.0.0.13.

You're right. I just verified this. Really ugly.


> Or can we distinguish between "file version" and "product version" within
> the checks?

No. Currently not. But it's a good hint. I will make a note - probably 
WPKG 1.1+ could add another check to check a file for "Product version".


> So, I'll next try checking only the existence of "firefox.exe". But I fear
> that in the case there Firefox is already on the workstation and wpkg is
> newly installed: this check succeeds with any (older) version of Firefox,
> and nothing is done.

This is not just a fear, it's a fact. However I think WPKG should be 
installed right from the beginning or then it can wait for the next FF 
upgrade to get the latest versions to the client.
Additionally it's quite strange to me that you seem to be worried about 
clients doing auto-upgrade (ie installing NEWER versions) and now you 
fear that there could be an old version ;-)

Alternatively you might distribute a "dummy" wpkg.xml to the client 
which contains a Firefox entry but with an outdated version number. In 
this case WPKG will call the upgrade procedure at first run.


> Perhaps a "versiongreaterorequal" in uninstall string would be an option,
> but with different software we will have different version numbering
> schemes ...

Yes, but this "numbering scheme" is up to the various application 
developers out there. The problem is that most of them seem to have no 
clue about versioning and versioning "schemes". WPKG could probably 
adopt to almost any scheme, as long as it is consistent. The real 
problems usually start if the application uses a different scheme from 
one bugfix release to the next. Even humans sometimes have problems to 
understand which is the latest version of an application. Trapped...


br,
Rainer