Installers Meeting - Jan 18th 2007

Notes

• installers differ on different operating systems
• windows
  • is the most flexible - exe runs - you can search, prompt the users
  • we know the previous version and know where the repository is
  • repository is stored in a version number directory
• mac - 2 different install styles
  • we use the simple dmg dnd - user drags to a folder
  • replace the previous one with the new one
• linux
  • depends on what's installed.
  • command line - just installs over whatever is there.
• can write an installer program for Mac/Linux but not customary

• Alternatives:
  • we can write a package installer - set of scripts - similar to windows
  • put something in the application when Chandler starts up
  • write a separate python program that checks

• until we went to the directory naming - no way to know that new chandler was opening the old repository
• didn't know how to say - hey user, this is old data, go run the old one and back it up
• real question is - how soon in the process do you detect there is old data?
• we will know that a previous chandler was installed and running
• the program knows where it is now
• then give the user a choice to migrate
• hard part is how the repository is accessed....version locked
• need to be able to open up an older version of the repository - dump into new one
• can we have a python program that chandler can run to detect upgrade situation and get the old data?
• mimi - it's ok in preview if we have to do a manual dump before they install the new version.
• what happens when you dump the data - where does it go?
• creates a backup - predefined file and location?
• might be a step for the user to do manually or could be automated
• we could possibly automate the reload part

• steps:
  • detection, warning
  • save data - also a backup mechanism as well
  • settings - can we handle this as well as just data?
  • partial reload - for preview we can just do one option - manual dump, automated reload

• Other questions?
  • How often is the schema changing after preview?
  • Do we have to handle multi-user Chandlers? Probably 2.0.

• Next actions:
  • Mimi - description of user experience scenarios
  • Sheila - email to the list with proposal

-- SheilaMooney - 23 Jan 2007