Extension Manager & Updates

lech

"Your Vanilla XP installation is out of date. The current version is Vanilla Vista! - Please visit http://getvanilla.com/ and update your installation"

*shudder

subterrane

• install bitTorrent
• download the CD-ROM images
• burn them to four disks, labeled install, install2, core, and extensions
• place the install2 disk in your computer and reboot
• reboot when promted and insert the install disk
• when prompted, reboot and insert the extensions disk
• when rebooting is requested, restart your computer and place the core disk in the drive
• place the install disk in your CD-ROM drive and restart after rebooting
• follow the 37 steps on the quickstart guide
• download the 18 pdf manuals to configure optional requirements
• enjoy!

lech

• finalize installation with a bullet to the cranium

vinay

:-D that was the idea. I was making a funny. oh god.. it wasn't funny was it. 20 people just went out and followed your instructions. Oh god what have I done!

KAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHN!

Scottish

*KHHHHHHAAAAAAAAN! /me wants the role back ;)

Mark

Wellll.... Maybe I should just add a new form to the settings tab that you can use to check for upgrades? IT could have a "Get New Extensions List" that populates your database with a list of new extensions available - so you can always have a full list - and then install the ones you want on demand. But I seriously think that having the thing just check whenever a "MasterAdmin" signs in for updates to the core is important. It would ONLY check when the sign-in is performed by an admin - not on every page load by every user. Alternately, I could do it like SmoothWall does - where you get a big ugly message if you let your application go for longer than 30 days without checking for an upgrade. Then you'd have to go to a form in the settings tab and check the central server to make the ugly message disappear. And seriously - remember that after the next upgrade, upgrades will be as easy as: Download, unzip, overwrite.

lech

I would preffer it manually, but I like the big ugly message after X days idea rather than having it check upon each time an admin is behind the wheel (lots of admins equals a ton of pingage).

orangeguru

@lech: we hear you. IMHO admins should get a notice if some important patch is out there - doesn't mean the system updates itself. If I remember correctly some phpBB virus spread itself via some coding flaw - I think it's only responsible of any toolmaker to at least WARN people when something rotten happens.

lech

@orangeguru, I heard about that nasty little bug, it wasn't anything serious but it wrecked quite a few DB's. This is something I would hate to have happen to anyone using vanilla including myself. I can see this back-firing in a brutal way towards the vanilla server with people checking for updates on a constant basis. I think the best way to go about managing this is just via a series of simple xml files that get updated with version number bumps and a download link. Admin logs in > 30 days have passed since last check > update button pops into main menu > click the button. * New page folds out from the admin pannel which is there by default but stressed when update button appears * Detailed info with what this page is for and how to approach it. (button to compare version with vanilla server) > click detailed listing with download links weighted in color by severity level on how critical it is to update. Perhaps at this point if a system on the vanilla side can pull the files in a queue order from (current) available files and zip them on the fly here on the vanilla server. User downloads files and runs off with it to over-write his or her current install. Done. I can think of a couple ways to pull this off as I'm already working on database backups and messing directly with the vanilla DB. Crafting a system to deal with these kinds of update and some kind of "developer" system would be kind of keen. Something along the lines of the current UMO system but on a smaller and much lighter scale. Also, if some kind of universal install script could be crafted for special extensions that require their own DB based off of the vanilla installer.php this would be great too. Mark you want flowcharts ? lol.

graste

Correct. The download option would be really nice. It shouldn't be too hard to compare the installed version with the latest version from the repository. You could also easily use XmlHTTPRequest to do something like that. Place a button (e.g. "Check for updates") on the admin page and if pressed, it connects to the vanilla server to get latest news/update information. Then the javascript displays the info on the admin page - perhaps with links to important downloads/updates/etc (that were delivered by the server).