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Content-type: text/plain
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blackbox{([at]})nowhere.xy> Behalf Of Douglas G. Danforth
> Sent: Wednesday, 7 February 2007 5:06 AM
> To: BlackBox Mailing List
> Subject: [BlackBox] - Automatic updates
>
> I use Firefox and Thunderbird for my browser and email.
> They have a nice automatic mechanism for releasing updates
> and restarting the system right back at the point where you left off.
>
> It occurs to me that this would be a nice feature for
> Blackbox when coupled to Component Pascal Collections (CPC).
> I could see a window occur , say when you start BB, that says
> "New modules are available for xxx would you like to load them now?"
> You would have a check list of subsystems previously
> specified of those subsystems in which you are interested
> (the full list would be updated behind the scenes when you
> started BB). Interdependency of modules would have to be
> maintained so that a working set would always be on your system.
>
> The benefits of automatic updates would be to keep the BB
> community in sync. It would also allow Oberon Microsystems a
> mechnism for maintaining the BB core.
>
> Comments?
>
On the surface it sounds like an excellent idea but in practice there are
potential problems. Judging from the replies you have had so far I must be
the odd one out - automatic updates drive me mad. For example:
* Every time I start Acrobat it pesters me to update
* Every time I start Lutz Roeder's otherwise excellent Reflector it refuses
to do anything until I have updated
* Every couple of days Norton AntiVirus pops up while I'm in the middle of
doing something and tells me there's an update - sometimes it goes through
all the motions only to tell me I'm already up to date (grrr!)
* Every week or two, Windows tells me I need to update - fortunately I have
this set so I can choose what I do want and what I don't want. One of the
updates recently was a major update from Internet Explorer 6 to 7. If that
had gone on my machine at home my wife would have been completely befuddled
- it cause me enough grief at work trying to find out where they had hidden
the menu.
etc. etc.
Anyway, having got all of that off my chest - there may well be a good case
for optional automatic / semi-automatic updates but it has to be very
carefully designed to avoid the sort of problems I have experienced with
other products. My general requirements for maintaining a development system
that is being updated in this way rather than the traditional way of
periodic major / minor controlled releases are:
1. I need to be informed as soon (within a week or so is soon enough) as a
new update is available
2. I need to be given enough information about the update to judge whether
the update is going to be a benefit to me or whether the potential
side-effects outweigh the benefits.
3. I need an accurate version control system which allows me to identify
EXACTLY what I have got and what I haven't got - my development systems are
on a home computer a work computer and a laptop for when I'm on the road. I
need to be quickly able to check that they are all in sync with each other.
In relation to BlackBox development there are two very different areas - the
CPC collection and the BB core.
a) CPC Collection
This has been extremely well organised to date - much kudos needs to go to
Helmut Zinn for his extraordinary efforts. How about we start off with
something very simple - an email from Helmut every time something in CPC
gets added / updated, or a summary (say once a month) of what has been
added. I generally check the CPC site about that often anyway - Helmut
maintains a very good summary at the beginning saying what has been updated.
b) BB Core
I would only support optional automatic updating if we reverted back to the
careful quality control mechanisms that used to be in place when OmS were
actively maintaining the product. While the voluntary adhoc independent
bug-fixes / workarounds that we have seen since BB was open-sourced are VERY
welcome, can be very useful, and are to be encouraged we should not forget
that they are just that - adhoc independent bug-fixes / workarounds. To be
accepted into the BB core they would have to go through the rigorous set of
quality control procedures, acceptance tests, regression testing, version
control, configuration builds etc. that very evidently was done in the days
when BB was maintained by OmS as a commercial product. We cannot expect OmS,
a commercial organisation that needs regular income to survive, to do this
as a charitable exercise - so who is going to put their hand up? Not me, I
hasten to add ;-)
Chris Burrows
CFB Software
http://www.cfbsoftware.com/gpcp
--- BlackBox
--- send subject HELP or UNSUBSCRIBE to blackbox{([at]})nowhere.xy
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Received on Wed Feb 07 2007 - 00:43:57 UTC