[wpkg-users] Just running one package at each run

[Rainer Meier]

Hi Kevin,

Kevin Keane wrote:
> I was under the impression that wpgk.js /synchronize would add all matching
> Packages to wpkg.xml as well? Is that not the case?

No, WPKG does add only the packages you assign to the host via the assigned profile.

WPKG  cannot find "matching" packages. Going through all packages and checking
whether it might eventually yield true during the checking phase would be
extremely slow and in addition it would be very dangerous since packages could
be matched wrongly (some packages are in the tree, unmaintained and just there
for later usage or just orphaned).


> One other way to get a package into wpkg.xml is by running wpkg.js /install
> on the package. If the package is already installed unmanaged, wpkg will
> add it to wpkg.xml and make it managed.

This is absolutely true.


> In any case, I am actually taking advantage of this wpkg behavior; I am using
> it to also uninstall unwanted software (which WPKG obviously has never installed
> in the first place) such as toolbars.

But for this you would have to install the package via /install or via
profile-assignement first.
You could also maintain an "uninstall-unwanted-software" package using only
uninstall instructions in the install commands to make sure some software is not
installed.


> In any case, I just realized that I am also using /force. Maybe that is why
> I see the behavior?

/force does something slightly different. It makes WPKG ignore the local
wpkg.xml file and re-builds it from scratch (it's like you would delete it in
advance). But still, WPKG will not go execute any uninstall commands during
synchronization.

You could inspect the log file to see what's really happening but WPKG will not
loop through all available packages but just the ones assigned to the host.


> Going a bit off topic but tying into a question I had a few days ago: is there
> a way to set /force on a per-package or per-profile basis? It would be extremely
> handy if I could use wpkg to remove bloatware from a new computer and at the
> same time leave preinstalled copies of, say, Microsoft Office, intact.

See my proposal above. What about a package calling just a script which starts
to run every known unwanted software uninstaller? That's the way I would do it
if I would allow people to install software themselves.

br,
Rainer