[wpkg-users] Problem with applications which need a reboot

[Malte Starostik]

Hello Johannes,

Am Montag, 17. August 2009 09:49:27 schrieb Johannes.Brix at evidian.com:
> Hello,
>
> there are some application, which needs a reboot otherwise, the
> installation cannot be completed.
> E.g.: Cisco VPN Client, VMWare Workstation, ZipGenius and some others.
>
> Calling the update by a script, it ends very time such an application is
> installed or updated.
>
> This is very anoying because when you setup a new PC, you need several
> reboots and need to restart
> software distribution.

With very few exceptions this can be reduced to a single reboot with 
reboot="postponed" instead of "true" or "delayed".  This works both on package 
and command level.  The reboot will only happen after all packages have been 
installed.  Anything that may have failed in the meantime - maybe a package 
that depends on an update with a pending reboot will be handled on the next 
run (i.e. right after the reboot if the client runs on startup).

> For updates, it is bad, because it breakes the user work session.
> Waiting until the next reboot initiated by the user is no solution,
> because some application are deinstalled
> before they are updated (especially the three ones named on top) and so
> not available for the user.
>
> How does the service handle such scenarios ?
>
> Any idea how to handle this?

If you run wpkg.js on startup with a sufficiently long logon delay, the reboot 
happens before the users are able to login, so their session won't be 
interrupted and removal happens just before the update is installed.  You only 
have to make sure the clients are rebooted somewhat regularly to trigger the 
updates.  One way to achieve this is a scheduled task at night (or whenever 
the machine is not in use), a corporate policy to always turn off the clients 
after work or anything to the same effect.

Regards,
Malte