Ah, great. I'll be the first to admit I haven't done a deep dive on the docs yet.
Given what you just wrote, the only issue I that can see remaining is that the majority of our systems are behind hospital firewalls, unable to reach the open internet. We provide system updates by handing our customers a big GPG-signed and encrypted .tar.gz that gets unpacked, with install scripts, .deb files with new versions of libraries, our new application software, etc. all contained inside. How would we update snaps in that kind of environment? On Fri, Jan 20, 2017 at 6:13 PM, mhall119 <mhall...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Eli, > > Enterprise servers, clouds and industrial IoT is a major focus for snaps, > perhaps more so than desktop. > > As I understand it you're making a medical device, right? In this use case > we have a special class of snaps called "gadget snaps" which enable the > specific hardware your product is using. This lets you ship provide the > drivers and kernel modules your device will need on top of the Ubuntu OS > snap that contains the basic operating system, and combine it with > application snaps like CouchDB, all of which can be updated independently > of each other. > > The "Update control" system is essentially what you describe, there's a > list of subordinate snaps that you can pin to a specific version. Then when > you update that list in the store, all your devices will see it and get > upgrade whatever snaps you've told them to upgrade. > > The store we provide is build for this kind of use case, so it offers both > private snaps and custom stores (in case your product wants to let users > install other snaps you've chosen to support). We are still learning all of > the different use cases that are out there, so if our current offering > doesn't cover yours we'd still like to know more about it so we can try and > improve it. > > On Tue, Jan 17, 2017 at 12:37 PM, Eli Stevens (Gmail) <wickedg...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Thanks for following up! >> >> We were not planning on making our product into a snap at this time, >> though I suppose we could have a stub snap just to lock down CouchDB's >> version. Seems a bit kludgy, but I'm not convinced I'm understanding >> the situation you're describing well. We're certainly not interested >> in having any of our snaps available through the official store, as >> we've got some pretty specific hardware requirements, and a sales >> process that doesn't work well for that kind of setup (mostly about >> ongoing maintenance costs). >> >> All we're really looking for is a way to say to the snap system "hey, >> I'll give you a directory full of snaps to install, and then I want >> you to leave them alone (in terms of no auto-updating). At some point >> in the future, a new directory of updated snaps will be provided, and >> then we'll want those installed, and then left alone." >> >> Do you know if snaps have server/enterprise usage as a use-case, or >> are they aimed squarely at user/desktop applications? >> >> Cheers, >> Eli >> >> On Tue, Jan 17, 2017 at 7:20 AM, Michael Hall <mhall...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > On 12/20/2016 01:56 PM, Eli Stevens (Gmail) wrote: >> >> On Tue, Dec 20, 2016 at 9:16 AM, Michael Hall <mhall...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> On 12/19/2016 06:23 PM, Eli Stevens (Gmail) wrote: >> > >> >>>> - Is it possible to disable automatic updates for snaps? >> >>> >> >>> It's possible, I don't know the details of it though. Can you tell me >> >>> what your concern is with leaving it on? >> >> >> >> The FDA requires us to produce documentation detailing the versions of >> >> 3rd party software we use to construct our product, and attest to the >> >> suitability of those versions for the purpose that we're using them >> >> for. Maintaining the proper documentation gets a lot harder when the >> >> version can get swapped out from underneath us without warning. And if >> >> there's an actual incompatibility, that means that cancer patients >> >> might not be able to start their course of treatment on time, which >> >> the patients, clinical staff, and our director of customer support all >> >> agree is undesirable. ;) >> >> >> > >> > Hi Eli, sorry for taking to long to get an answer for you on this, I had >> > to find someone in Canonical who could tell me what the options are, and >> > then it appears I accidentally deleted this email thread. >> > >> > The Snap store that Canonical runs has a features called "Update >> > control" designed for device makers, which lets them specify what >> > versions of other snaps can be installed on their device. This would let >> > you specify, in your own snap, which version of couchdb will be used on >> > your device. You can then update that information in your snap in the >> > store, and all of your devices will see that only then will they update >> > couchdb to the new version. >> > >> > This is a commercial feature of the store, it's not available to regular >> > application snap developers. I'd be happy to put you in touch with >> > someone at Canonical who can tell you more about it and help you get >> > setup with it. >> > >> > -- >> > Michael Hall >> > mhall...@gmail.com >>
