[wpkg-users] 1.3.0 Log File with Programs installed list at end of file

[Rainer Meier]

Hi Zach,

On 14.12.2011 23:14, Zach Musselman wrote:
> In older versions of wpkg server the log file would display all
> successfully installed programs in a list at the very end of the log
> file.  This made it extremely easy to tell what was installing and
> what wasn't.  Since there is no web gui server tool to help with this
> that was the second best thing.

WPKG did not keep a list of successful installations during a run. Please use 
the query functionality of WPKG 1.3.0 to get clear reports on what is currently 
installed or pending on a node. This feature is fully supported.

I am not sure about which list of successfully installed programs you're talking 
about. Maybe you're talking about the "Adding settings node:..." entries. WPKG 
1.3.0 still prints these entries, but note that this list is only the list of 
packages written to wpkg.xml. And of course it's only printed if the list of 
packages _change_. So if WPKG completes without performing any action, then this 
list is not printed of course. But this was the case with earlier WPKG versions 
too and it's not a reliable source of a full list of installed packages. Only 
wpkg.xml (or a query based on wpkg.xml) is.

You can still parse the log for informational entries about successful 
install/upgrade/downgrade/removal if you like, but this is not an official 
interface to WPKG.

You might also want to have a look at the output of /sendStatus on STDOUT which 
gives clear summary of what WPKG is doing.

Although most WPKG users create a package which copies wpkg.xml to a share, so 
you can use wpkg.js in remote query mode now in order to query pending actions 
as well as the current state of the client.


> How would one go about re-enabling that in 1.3.0 version of the server?

Structures of debug logs might change without further notice due to internal 
changes and optimizations. Such a feature as you describe was never there 
intentionally and there is no point in maintaining such a thing redundantly as 
the query feature provides much more detailed reports.


> Also would be great if you offered a web gui to see what machines were
> compliant with installs and what did not successfully install.
> Managing over 100 machines by log level 31 logs is very difficult.

Feel free to contribute some code. Not sure if WPKG-Express is still under 
development. Someone on this list has indicated that development is stopped 
currently.

Logs are mainly mentioned to track errors, but not really intended to track the 
current installation status. The status of a machine is entirely written to the 
local wpkg.xml. Feel free to re-locate it to a writeable share or copy it to a 
share in order to do easy remote-analysis using wpkg.js directly. This provides 
much more detailed reports and flexibility. It also allows you to query what 
impact a package/profile/host change will have on a specific host.


> Please consider a one time pay option for a server gui for Linux that
> was lightweight and could in real time push out updates with out
> reboots or shutdowns.

Pushing updates can be done by using winexe/psexec to trigger WPKG execution 
remotely. If somebody is willing and able to contribute to WPKGExpress 
development, feel free to do so.

Exactly due to the lack of proper reporting tools WPKG 1.3.0 comes with much 
improved query command.


br,
Rainer