Thirded? :P I agree that the placement of the packages (and in my case, scripts also) is not optimal. I want to just ping the list with a thought and then I will devote some more time to this later ... Beware ... May ramble a bit.
I would suggest that we use a site setting/variable so that we can each determine the placement of our files. It could be something that maps it out for each package or just a %PKGIDPATH%. I think it might be a little hard to get consensus from everyone on where they should all live, as some of us with few applications will want a simple/flat structure while others will want to really break it up. (I can see that this would get more valuable as you need to support multiple versions of the same application, or have fixed deployment 'images' for a specific department.) Having said that, I wouldn't want to break any stock functionality in Unattended. I could see us leaving things as they are -- so you use the prepare script to get everything to start, then a rearrange to move it where you want it ... The complication comes in wanting adobe_reader_package in /packages/viewers/adobe/... And java in /packages/java/ Hmmm, perhaps this would work --> Perhaps naming/versioning of packages. So you would have something like: :: Install Adobe Reader :: PKGID|ADBERDR60 :: URL|ENU|http://somedownload.com|packages/adobereader/adberdr60_enu_full.exe :: OPTIONAL: Install Sun Java Virtual Machine :: PKGID|SUNJRE5_0_01 :: URL|ALL|http://javadownload.blah|packages/jre1.5.0_01.msi In the batch files from Unattended and on your site you would have a setting that says: DEFAULT|packages/ ADBERDR60|packages/viewers/adobe/ SUNJRE5_0_01|packages/java/ It would add some overhead, but maybe not as much as I am thinking. If there were a front-end for this it would be even better, but we are already stringing together an ungodly amount of scripts to get this truly marvelous software to work. I would like to see something like this personally. Instead of agreeing where everything should be, let's just agree how everything should be named and we should be good to go. In fact, the information could be added without a *huge* change .. I think. Heck, given the format above the prepare script could attempt to find the PKGIDPATH and if there isn't an entry then it would fallback to default. Yeah, I can see that working. On a side note: This addresses the package storage area, but not really the script storage issues that may arise, Of course, that may bring forth thoughts of an index of packages & scripts rather than storing it all with the install directives. (Although, I am a big fan of atomic configuration information -- i.e., each install knows what it needs to be performed.) Thoughts? Don Morrison -----Original Message----- From: Michael Kahle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 2:50 PM To: Unattended List Subject: [Unattended] Sugestion or Request... Would it be possible to remove all software from the root of the unattended/install/packages directory and instead move them to a folder within the packages directory? I am not trying to make noise here, but thought that others might have a similar experience/desire as I do. I not only use unattended for "unattended" installations, but also as my software repository on the network. If someone wants a particular piece of software installed I simply map a drive to the unattended server browse to packages and manually install the package I want. I also store additional information in the directory with the package, like documentation on how to do the manual install or pdf's on how to use the software for other peoples reference. For example, when running the prepare script it places the java jre in the root of the packages directory. I move the install to a folder called "java" and then put my documentation in the directory with the installer. I then go to the scripts directory and modify the script that installs it to reflect the path to where the software resides. Now when I update the scripts from CVS with the "script-update" bash script, it overwrites my changes and I have to update it all over again. I realize that I can exclude whichever files I want to so that I don't break compatibility, but this is not entirely convenient. I guess what I am suggesting is some standard structure that we could use with unattended that would clean up the packages and updates directory that makes better sense. Perhaps even separating the packages sub directories into something like: /unattended/ /packages/ /commercial /office2003 /notes /java /opensource /openoffice /pdfcreator /freeware /winimage /winzip /updates /ie6sp1 /directx9 Humm... Looking at the above, separating packages into opensource, freeware, commercial is kind of overkill... But you get the idea. Am I the only one that sees this as something worth doing? If so, no problem, I'll just keep doing what I have been doing. But if you think it makes more sense my way (or rather the way some packages are already)... what do you say? Michael ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_ide95&alloc_id396&op=click _______________________________________________ unattended-info mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. 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