[wpkg-users] wpkg.xmk on the client

[Rainer Meier]

Hi Johannes,

Johannes.Brix at evidian.com wrote:
> 1. For what actions is it used beside reflecting the client installation 
> status?
> I have seen that e.g. upgrade and uninstall commands seems to be taken 
> from this file. 
> Why and why not from the global packages.xml ?

Upgrade commands are taken from the package definition in packages.xml (the new
package definition as it is specified on server side).
Uninstall commands are taken from the currently installed package since they
have to correspond to the installed version. For example if the server package
would specify and MSI-uninstall command while the locally installed package was
using a Wise-Installer WPKG needs to use the commands from wpkg.xml.
Note that WPKG will first try to upgrade to the latest version as defined on the
server side before it does an uninstall. This allows you to fix mistakes in
uninstall commands and WPKG will automatically make sure the changed commands
are applied first by upgrading the package as appropriate.



> 2. Phantom package in local wpkg.xml
> I created a new package for distribution of our antivirus software on our 
> servers. See below.
> The "uninstall" information in the registry is the same, the difference 
> are the used installation packages.
> 
> With the next run of update, on half of my mainted PCs, I now have this 
> package in the local wpkg.xml
> and everytime update is executed, it tries to uninstall thie package 
> because it is not assigned to this PC.
> I have no clue why this package has been added to the local wpkg.xml file.
> 
> Is it possible that wpkg.js tries under certain condions to check all 
> available packages
> in relation to a PC, adds it to the local wpkg.xml and then tries to 
> uninstall it if not assigned in the profiles and hosts?

WPKG will check all assigned packages during each synchronization. If you use
the /force parameter WPKG ignores the local wpkg.xml file and tries to re-detect
all installed packages by its checks.

However in your case it might be another issue. I see both of your packages use
the same uninstall checks - this is usually quite bad. In your case even both
packages have the same priority. So it might happen that one package is
installed/upgraded and the next one removes it again so on next run WPKG detects
that the uninstall information is missing and it re-installs the package.

I recommend adding some additional checks (e.g. file checks) to the packages
which makes sure the right package is actually installed.

If this does not solve your problem please attach a full debug log on the client
run so we could analyze what happens on the system.

br,
Rainer