[wpkg-users] Will WPKG uninstall software it did not install?

[Peter Gough]

Yes, all true and well worth clarification.

I only offer my advice based on my own experience which is that without
careful testing it is difficult to predict exactly what the implementation
of wpkg will have. I've certainly tripped up more than once as a result of
my own ill-conceived check conditions. This isn't the fault of wpkg, which
has done exactly what I've asked it to do, but for somebody implementing
wpkg in their own 'virgin' environment I think it is important to spell out
the potential for adversely impacting their existing software installations.

On 27 February 2010 19:23, Rainer Meier <r.meier at wpkg.org> wrote:

> Hi Peter,
>
> > Simply put if for some reason I decide to rollout Firefox v3.5 to all of
> > my clients but some of my users have already installed v3.6 then wpkg
> > may install the older version over the top of the newer version assuming
> > I use a check condition that specifies the file version as v3.5..
> >
> > In this scenario wpkg.js would check for the v3.5 file and when it
> > doesn't find it then it would attempt to install v3.5 using the install
> > commands in the package definition file, regardless of whether v3.6 is
> > installed or not.
>
> But in this case I would consider this to be exactly the expected behavior.
> You're assigning a Firefox package to the profile which is assigned to a
> specific host. So you want to make sure this host has Firefox 3.5
> installed. So
> WPKG will assure assuming you pass the necessary commands to WPKG.
> It would also be possible to ALLOW people to install new versions by
> defining
> the checks accordingly (allow version 3.5 or higher).
>
> So from my point of view your scenario does not apply at all to the
> question
> whether WPKG will touch software not under its control or not. At the time
> you
> assign the Firefox package to the host it's under WPKG control (no matter
> which
> version might be on the host already). Then it's also clear that WPKG will
> remove Firefox once you remove the package from the profile in the future.
> But
> this case is the "package under WPKG control" use case and not related at
> all to
> the case of Tomas where he asked if a completely unrelated package will be
> touched by WPKG.
>
> I understood the question in a way that he wants to know if WPKG will
> uninstall
> "Microsoft Office" if he has a "Microsoft Office" package in packages.xml
> but
> it's not assigned to the host but installed on the host already. The answer
> to
> this question is simply "No" because WPKG will not look for "Microsoft
> Office"
> on this system as long as the package is not assigned to the host.
>
> WPKG will only take control of software packages which are assigned to the
> host
> at any point in time.
>
> br,
> Rainer
>
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