[wpkg-users] Per-user installation?

[Justin Brinegar]

I am suggesting that you use WPKG to deploy the Google Pack.  I have not 
done this, and I cannot attest to how it might be done, but I can attest to 
Google Pack's Chrome install location being "in the right place."

When you visit http://pack.google.com/intl/en/pack_installer.html on a 
Windows machine (note: I am on a Mac and I had to spoof my UA string), you 
get the ability to customize what is contained in the Pack.  Being without 
a Windows machine at the moment, I can't say how to proceed from there - 
and I don't know if it will download the installer proper or if it will 
download an application to download the rest.  I would use that page as a 
starting point, simpling de-selecting every other application except Chrome 
before clicking download now.  I'd try first launching whatever that 
downloads on the commandline and appending a "/?" sans quotes to see if it 
will print launch options.  If it doesn't, check for any documentation the 
installer provides, or google for the silent install and commandline 
options (you may not want it to autoupdate, for example).  I believe the 
open source product Chromium does not autoupdate.  A quick google suggests 
other alternatives to this as well.

This may very well end up being alot of investigation to get it to work 
properly.  If you absolutely *cannot* seem to wrap the Google Pack 
Chrome-only correctly in a WPKG packages.xml statement, then I would 
suggest looking through the stuff located at 
http://dev.chromium.org/developers/how-tos/build-instructions-windows .  I 
have not investigated it myself, but some applications are installed in a 
straightforward manner (eg, Vim with Cream) and you can easily replicate 
what an installer executeable or msi is doing with some custom scripts.  I 
ended up taking that approach when no distribution of vim seemed to remove 
silently.  I would only do it as a last resort, since it can be time 
intensive.

Realistically, if I had too much trouble with Chrome, I would deploy a 
stable build of Chromium.  Of course, there are some differences and I am 
not terribly familiar with them.  If that is the route you choose, you may 
find this page to be helpful: 
http://build.chromium.org/buildbot/continuous/win/

I'll look into this further when I gain access to my systems again in 10 
days and report back with what I have found.  I do not currently deploy 
Chrome, but I have considered it.

Justin

On Sat, 19 Dec 2009, Kevin Keane wrote:

> Thanks again for pointing me in that direction!
>
> Forgive me for being dense here - but I'm not quite sure how to get the Google Pack chrome installer by itself? Or were you suggesting to use Google Pack instead of WPKG? That, unfortunately, is not an option for me.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Justin Brinegar [mailto:brinegar at physics.unc.edu]
>> Sent: Monday, December 14, 2009 12:25 PM
>> To: Kevin Keane
>> Cc: wpkg-users at lists.wpkg.org
>> Subject: Re: [wpkg-users] Per-user installation?
>>
>> If I recall correctly, the standalone Chrome installer will install to
>> a
>> per user location, and the Google Pack Chrome installer
>> (http://pack.google.com/intl/en/pack_installer.html) will install
>> Chrome
>> to a user agnostic location.
>>
>> This does not answer your per-user application installation question,
>> but if your problem only lies with Chrome, hopefully this will help.
>>
>> Justin
>>
>> Kevin Keane wrote:
>>> Is there a way to use WPKG to install per-user applications, such as
>>> Google Chrome?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I am thinking to call wpkg.js from a logon script. I could specify
>> the
>>> user name as host name. But I'm stumped on how to change the location
>> of
>>> the wpkg.xml file without creating a separate config.xml for each
>> user
>>> (which would be a maintenance nightmare).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> And in any case, it seems like quite a bit of (error-prone) hacking.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Is there a better solution?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Justin Brinegar
>> .. brinegar at physics.unc.edu
>> .. (919) 962 - 6494
>> .. Assistant Windows Administrator
>> .. Physics & Astronomy Networking Infrastructure and Computing
>> .. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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