[wpkg-users] Stopping installations being called each time WPKG runs...

[Chris Wilcox]

Hi all,
 
I'm used to a commercial package allocation tool which behaves a little differently to WPKG in respect of how it decides if a package is installed or not.  The package install commands are, like WPKG, all held in network based ini files.  Each workstation has a network based and local based ini file.  The network based ini file gets updated if the management tools allocate/de-allocate/re-allocate a package.  The local ini file contains details relating to the last time the application installer tool checked for new package commands e.g.1) Allocate a package to PC1, ini file on network has new line added:
 
Flash10 = INSTALL_PENDING
 
2) On reboot, workstation checks it's own ini file against network one and spots new line
3) Workstation checks the package ini file for Flash10 and installs the package according to the install commands
4) Workstation updates it's own ini file with line:
 
Flash10 = INSTALLED
 
5) Workstation alters line in network ini file with the line:
 
Flash10 = Installed
 
If a package install fails then the line would instead read:
 
Flash10 = INSTALL_FAILED
 
The install ini file for each package can then be altered however you wish and you know each workstation will always use the latest version of this file.  It also makes it a little easier to track installed/failed packages centrally.
 
That gets me to my question - the commercial system I use will never initiate a package installation if the local and network ini file says that the package is already installed.  With WPKG, it seems you MUST specifiy conditions to prevent this occuring?  Most of the software I use is educational stuff and is not listed in any of the WPKG silent installer pages - it can often be quite difficult to work out what condition syntax to use to prevent installs repeating at each workstation boot - MSI's handle this a little better as they don't normally repeat the whole install, but many exe based installations insist on re-installing even if the app is already on.
 
Am I missing something obvious here?  Should WPKG try to repeat installs at every boot if the package does not have any condition syntax?
 
Chris
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