[wpkg-users] Per-user installation?

[Kevin Keane]

Ah, thank you so, so much!

First off, you are right - that is indeed how the Google Pack works. The Web site asks which components you want (and tells you what you already have), and then proceeds to a download page. This download page gives you a single executable Google_Update.exe. This is customized to include your package selection (and presumably may also contain some tracking cookies or the like).

When you run it, the updater in turn downloads the individual installers from somewhere. It also installs itself and regularly tries to download the latest versions for everything, as well as let the user choose to add or remove applications from the list - and that is basically what I don't want.

But thank you so much for all your help!

By the way, you were right about WinDirStat. I don't know how I got the idea that it installed in user space - it installed properly right out of the box (there even was an entry in the package database).

Lightscribe, I can live without, or I can simply let users install their own templates that they like.

Thanks again!

Kevin

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Justin Brinegar [mailto:brinegar at physics.unc.edu]
> Sent: Saturday, December 19, 2009 9:37 PM
> To: Kevin Keane
> Cc: wpkg-users at lists.wpkg.org
> Subject: Re: [wpkg-users] Per-user installation?
> 
> 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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