Re: [wpkg-users] deploy the application immediately without administrator rights

[Troy Hamilton]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 5:16 AM, Florent Lagoda wrote:

> Hi,
> I search what is the exactly command that WPKG execute at the start of the
> computer for install software (without administrator rights).
> I would like to deploy applications according to user demand (without
> administrator rights / click to deploy the application immediately).
>
> It's possible ?
>

This is possible, but it may or may not be worth the trouble.

First, you need a way for a non-admin user to start wpkg running with local
admin rights.  To achieve this, you can install/configure a wpkg service
(either a custom service, or the one created by the installer).  This
service should run with local admin rights on the workstation (and if it's
the SYSTEM account, make sure the account has access to the installers if
they are located on a network share).  Then, you can use setacl.exe to
change permissions on this service so that non-admin users can start and
stop the service.

The second part you'll need is a way for a user to select what packages to
install and then make sure those packages get added to one of the wpkg
profiles that control installations on the workstation in question.  This
could be an HTA or something similar that displays the available packages
to the user, allows the user to select which ones to be installed, and then
writes the selected packages to the appropriate profile xml files.  The
last task for the utility would be to start up the wpkg service.

When I first set up wpkg, I configured a service that could be started by
non-admin users and it worked just fine, but I ended up abandoning that
method before deploying it throughout the organization since I wanted wpkg
to run at night when no users would be affected.


Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Run on a schedule

[Troy Hamilton]

On Sun, Aug 19, 2012 at 9:19 AM, Kristofer  wrote:

>
> Is it possible to run on a schedule (every 12 or 24 hours for example), in
> the case that users never log out, or I want to make sure updates get
> pulled by clients in a some-what timely fashion?
>

Kris,

I've had great luck using both versions of CRON found here:

http://www.kalab.com/freeware/cron/This is how I handle running wpkg
periodically:cron.htm 

I prefer these native versions to PyCron since they don't require a Python
installation.

For running WPKG, I use the crons.exe version which installs itself as a
service.  After copying crons.exe and a crontab file to
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32, I just run these two commands:

c:\windows\system32\crons.exe /install
c:\windows\system32\sc.exe start CRON

And here is an example of the crontab that I use (look out for wrapped
lines below):
-
# Basic crontab format:
#
# + minute (0 - 59)
# |  +- hour (0 - 23)
# |  |  +-- day of month (1 - 31)
# |  |  |  +--- month (1 - 12)
# |  |  |  |  + day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0)
# |  |  |  |  |
# *  *  *  *  *  command to be executed

# refresh the crontab file every 10 minutes
0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * c:\windows\system32\xcopy.exe /y "\\
fully.qualified.domain.name\NETLOGON\APPS\cron\crontab"
"c:\windows\system32"

# run wpkg.bat at 10pm, midnight, and 2am each day
0 22,0,2 * * * c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /c \\fully.qualified.domain.name\
NETLOGON\APPS\wpkg\wpkg.bat
-

That website also has a cron.exe version which can be run as the logged-in
user, but for running WPKG, I prefer to have the CRON service run as the
system user and just grant "Domain Computers" read/execute access to
%SOFTWARE%.

Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Register sysinfo.ocx

[Troy Hamilton]

On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 5:09 AM, David Petterson  wrote:

>
> Take a "snapshot" of the registry and the program folder right after
> install and then start the program as an administrator.
> Take a new snapshot and compare the two for changes.
> I havnt found any good software to do this, so I just create a list of
> files and export the registry to compare later.
>

I use Regshot (the unicode version or Regshot2) for this, and it works
better than anything else I have found for capturing registry changes.  It
even creates two text files in windows registry format: one for undoing the
changes, and another for redoing the changes.

http://www.woodmann.com/collaborative/tools/index.php/Regshot_Unicode


--Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] WPKG over multiple sites using local storage

[Troy Hamilton]

>
>
> I'm looking at how's best to setup multiple WAN locations with our WPKG
> server. We currently have a WPKG server in London and are setting up an
> office in Europe. The two sites will be VPN'd together fine and the WPKG
> server will work fine over the WAN, but is there a way to ease the file
> transfer by having another server in the second office just to store the
> files/software to update to reduce the amount of traffic between the two
> offices?
>

I use this kind of setup within my organization.  I keep wpkg.bat on the
NETLOGON share of each domain controller, but it could also be kept on a
single server in the main office.  Then, I have wpkg.bat call setServer.bat
which sets the %SOFTWARE% environment variable to the correct local server
so that installers aren't pulled from across the WAN.

wpkg.bat:

@echo off
:: This is a recommended way of starting WPKG.

:: Use WPKGROOT variable to define where wpkg.js script is.

:: Use PACKAGES variable to define where all your software/installers are.
:: You can later use the PACKAGES variable (and all other variables) in your
xml files.

set WPKGROOT=%~dp0
CALL "%~dp0setServer.bat"
set SOFTWARE=\\%SERVER%\software

IF NOT EXIST %SOFTWARE% EXIT /B 1

c:\windows\system32\cscript.exe //nologo /E:JScript %WPKGROOT%\wpkg.js
/synchronize /noremove /quiet /nonotify /sendStatus



setServer.bat

@echo off

set gw=0.0.0.0
FOR /F "tokens=13 delims= " %%i IN ('c:\windows\system32\ipconfig.exe ^|
find /i "default gateway"') DO CALL :SETGW %%i
IF {%gw%}=={0.0.0.0} GOTO :EOF

CALL :SETSVR

GOTO :EOF

:SETGW
SET tmpgw=%1
IF {%tmpgw:~0,3%}=={199} set gw=%tmpgw%
GOTO :EOF

:SETSVR
IF {%gw%}=={192.168.101.1} SET server=SERVER101
IF {%gw%}=={192.168.102.1} SET server=SERVER102
IF {%gw%}=={192.168.103.1} SET server=SERVER103
GOTO :EOF


This method works pretty well for me.


Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] deploying via Domain Controller netlogon share?

[Troy Hamilton]

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 9:39 AM, Michael Seward
wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm trying to use WPKG with the default 'netlogon' share on our domain
> controllers, with a sub-folder of 'wkpg' - so that whichever site a PC is
> on the
> WPKG client can get the install package locally instead of downloading
> packages
> across our WAN.
>
> I'm trying to reference the netlogon share in the WPKG client by using the
> %LOGONSERVER% variable, but the client crashes when I do this. E.g. the
> entry in
> the client settings 'WPKG file path' is %LOGONSERVER%\netlogon\wpkg\wpkg.js
> and
> the SOFTWARE variable is set as '%LOGONSERVER%\netlogon\wpkg\software'
>
> Has anyone used this approach and if so how do I correctly reference the
> system
> variable for the netlogon share through the client settings? I don't want
> to
> specify a server name or IP address as that then links the client only to
> that
> site and I'll have to setup WPKG repositories on each site.
>
>
Michael,

We use the NETLOGON share on our domain controllers for storing profile and
package definitions as well as wpkg.bat and wpkg.js, but %SOFTWARE% is
located on separate fileservers in each site (wpkg.bat chooses the
appropriate fileserver based on the workstation's gateway.

Anyway, I would recommend using the fully qualified domain name to reference
the netlogon share like this:

\\fully.qualified.domain.name\NETLOGON\wpkg\wpkg.bat

At least for us MS DNS subnet prioritization ensures that "
fully.qualified.domain.name" resolves to the IP of the local domain
controller (the same as %LOGONSERVER% would in optimal situations).  If you
have one or more sites without a domain controller, then you may want to see
what domain controller they will hit by looking at the first IP address
returned by:

nslookup fully.qualified.domain.name


Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Relax Win 7 permissions for unprivileged users

[Troy Hamilton]

Hi Mark,

> For some applications I need to relax the security settings on the Program
> Directory. For example, I would like Mozilla firefox and thunderbird to be
> able to self-update even for my users that are unprivileged. I thought
> something like the following would work in a batch file:
>
>
> "%SOFTWARE%\firefox\Firefox Setup 3.6.12.exe" -ms
> icacls "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Mozilla Firefox" /grant Users:F
>
> But I've had inconsistent results. Is this the best method?

After you run the above icacls command, does the expected "users" ACE
show up in the permissions tab of the "Mozilla Firefox" directory
properties?  If not, then you might give setacl.exe
(http://helgeklein.com/setacl/examples/managing-file-system-permissions-with-setacl-exe/)
a try to see if you get the ACE you expect.

Once the users group has full control of the firefox directory (either
from running icacls, setacl, or manually setting the permissions) does
the self-update work correctly?

I don't have nearly as much experience with Win7 as XP, so I can't
comment on whether UAC or something else would be causing problems
even when the permissions are set.


Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Using BITS to transfer files? [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

[Troy Hamilton]

Michael,

On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 8:23 PM, Michael Chinn
 wrote:
> Bits has some advantages, Namely you can throttle it using a GPO
>
> Be warned it has a number of disadvantages, no COM interface, it self
> throttles 2 seconds after it detects other traffic which can be annoying
>

I wonder if one could avoid these disadvantages of BITS by using
wget.exe (from gnuwin32 project) instead.  One could use the "-c" or
"--continue" option to resume partially downloaded files and the
"--limit-rate=RATE" option for throttling downloads.

>From my quick test, it looks like it would require wget.exe as well as
libeay32.dll, libintl3.dll, libiconv2.dll, and ssleay32.dll to be
present on the workstation (but not registered), so all other packages
would probably have to depend on a wget package which installed these
files.

>
> This nearly worked…
>
> I had to deploy to about 80 laptops on intermittent connections
>
> The idea was to have 2 kinds of package…
>
> PACKAGE: Deploy_acrobat runs once and triggers BITS. Detects if a zip file
> exists at the end
>
> PACKAGE: Install_Acrobat depends on Deploy_acrobat, has 2 commands… unpacks
> the zip and runs to contained setup.bat
>

I think one could use the same package strategy with wget.

I've never had a need for such a system, but I thought I'd throw this
out there in case it might help someone else.


Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Running wpkg.js as System Account

[Troy Hamilton]

2011/1/7 LAPLAUD François 

> Yes indeed,
>
> Here are my needs :
> - a working wpkg ( ;-) )
> - possibility to run wpkg periodically to be able to deploy packages in
> background while users are working.
>

I use CRON (http://www.kalab.com/freeware/cron/cron.htm) to do this.  I
prefer these native versions to PyCron since they don't require a Python
installation.

For running WPKG, I use the crons.exe version which installs itself as a
service.  After copying crons.exe and a crontab file to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32,
I just run these two commands:

c:\windows\system32\crons.exe /install
c:\windows\system32\sc.exe start CRON

And here is an example of the crontab that I use (look out for wrapped lines
below):
-
# Basic crontab format:
#
# + minute (0 - 59)
# |  +- hour (0 - 23)
# |  |  +-- day of month (1 - 31)
# |  |  |  +--- month (1 - 12)
# |  |  |  |  + day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0)
# |  |  |  |  |
# *  *  *  *  *  command to be executed

# refresh the crontab file every 10 minutes
0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * c:\windows\system32\xcopy.exe /y
"\\myserver\myshare\APPS\cron\crontab" "c:\windows\system32"

# run wpkg.bat at 10pm, midnight, and 2am each day
0 22,0,2 * * * c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /c \\myserver\myshare\APPS
\wpkg\wpkg.bat
-

Now this takes care of the scheduled after hours synchronization.  And for
ad-hoc installations during business hours, I can just add another line to
the crontab file to run wpkg for installing a particular package:

#55 9 * * * cmd.exe /c \\myserver\myshare\apps\wpkg\wpkg.bat urgent-package

All of my workstations will pull down the new copy of the crontab file
within 10 minutes, and then they will run wpkg at 9:55 AM in this case to
install "urgent-package".  After that time has passed, I can remove the line
from the crontab file so that it doesn't run everyday after that.

Of course, I also use beyondexe or psexec sometimes if I just have a few
workstations to work with.

By the way, I like CRON better than scheduled tasks because it's much easier
to copy out a new crontab file than to modify the scheduled task(s).  I also
remember having some issues with the scheduled tasks not running reliably.


If I need to use scheduled tasks, why would I run a service wich will in
> return run a script  whereas I can run that script directly ?


At one point I installed a "custom" wpkg service, but I abandoned that when
I implemented cron.  The only advantage of the service is that I used
setacl.exe to modify the permissions of the service so that limited users
could start and stop it.


- when the scheduled tasked is about to run wpkg, I would like it to wait
> for some random time between 1 and 30 minutes for instance so that the
> network is not overloaded. (I suppose this part will need little
> modifications of the wpkg.js script itself but seems to be a quite easy one)
>

I've thought of that before, too, and I think I may modify my wpkg.bat file
as follows (note the "set /a delay" line:

wpkg.bat
*-*
@echo off

set WPKGROOT=%~dp0
CALL "%~dp0setServer.bat"
set SOFTWARE=\\%SERVER%\software

IF NOT EXIST %SOFTWARE% EXIT /B 1

c:\windows\system32\msiexec.exe /unreg

c:\windows\system32\msiexec.exe /regserver

IF EXIST c:\windows\system32\wpkg.xml DEL /Q /F c:\windows\system32\wpkg.xml

set
PATH=c:\windows;c:\windows\system32;c:\windows\system32\wbem;%WPKGROOT%\tools;%PATH%

:: random number of seconds between 1 and 1800 (30 minutes)
set /a delay=%random%%1800+1

:: sleep.exe from gnuwin32
%WPKGROOT%\tools\sleep.exe %delay%

IF [%1]==[] (
c:\windows\system32\cscript.exe //nologo /E:JScript %WPKGROOT%\wpkg.js
/synchronize /noremove /quiet /nonotify /sendStatus /logLevel:23
/log_file_path:\\myserver\work\log\wpkg
/logfilePattern:[HOSTNAME]-[][MM][DD]-[hh][mm].log
) ELSE (
IF [%2]==[force] (
c:\windows\system32\cscript.exe //nologo /E:JScript
%WPKGROOT%\wpkg.js /forceinstall /install:%1 /noremove /quiet /nonotify
/sendStatus /logLevel:23 /log_file_path:\\myserver\work\log\wpkg
/logfilePattern:[HOSTNAME]-[][MM][DD]-[hh][mm].log
) ELSE (
c:\windows\system32\cscript.exe //nologo /E:JScript
%WPKGROOT%\wpkg.js /install:%1 /noremove /quiet /nonotify /sendStatus
/logLevel:23 /log_file_path:\\myserver\work\log\wpkg
/logfilePattern:[HOSTNAME]-[][MM][DD]-[hh][mm].log
)
)

set year=%date:~10,4%
set month=%date:~4,2%
set day=%date:~7,2%
set tm=%time:~0,8%
set tm=%tm::=-%
set tm=%tm: =%

IF EXIST c:\windows\system32\wpkg.xml RENAME c:\windows\system32\wpkg.xml
wpkg-%year%-%month%-%day%-%tm%.xml
-

Hope this helps,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Running wpkg.js as System Account

[Troy Hamilton]

2011/1/6 LAPLAUD François 

> ...
> All is going well except that I get this error message :
> [...]
> Initialized temporary local log file: C:\Windows\TEMP\wpkg-logInit.log
> Initializing new log file: \\srv-wds01.sdis72.fr
> \wpkg\Logs\pc1007-057.W7.log
> Failed to open log file: ACCESS DENIED; falling back to local logging: null
> WPKG 1.1.2 starting...
> Base directory is '\\srv-wds01.sdis72.fr\wpkg-w7'.
> [...]
>
> I have checked shares and NTFS rights and they seems correct.
> I then types the following command :
> psexec \\pc1007-057 -s cmd /c echo test > \\srv-wds01.sdis72.fr
> \wpkg\Logs\pc1007-057.W7.log
>
> And this last command works perfectly (the log file is created... with the
> text "test" in it)
>
>
Your echo test does seem to indicate that your rights on the server share
are correct, which is kind of puzzling.  You might try actually logging into
a workstation and running your command:

cscript \\srv-wds01.sdis72.fr\wpkg-w7\wpkg.js /synchronize /debug

from within a SYSTEM user command prompt (
http://wpkg.org/SYSTEM_user_Command_Prompt).

I use the same method that you are attempting using beyondexec (
http://www.beyondlogic.org/solutions/remoteprocess/BeyondExec.htm), but I
don't remember encountering this error.

Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Windows 7 - Compatible?

[Troy Hamilton]

Brent,

On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 1:20 PM, Brent A Nelson  wrote:
> As things stand now, we've been reluctant to upgrade large packages (say,
> Office 2007->2010), as this would be applied when they turn on their
> computers, and they might have to wait an hour before they can use their
> machines.  But if the user got a notice that the update was ready, they
> could choose to apply it or be aware that it will install on the next
> reboot.

Have you considered running wpkg.js outside of business hours (either
with a scheduled task or cron job) to install such large packages?
You may also have other reasons for not doing that, but I thought I'd
ask.


> Once you have those features, will you be adding support where a
> non-privileged user could potentially launch a wpkg upgrade while logged in?
> Perhaps much like Windows/Microsoft updates, where it could check to see if
> there are any changes every so often, and then let the user know what
> changes would be applied and give them the option to proceed? That would be
> very cool.

At some point in the past, I had an unofficial (custom) wpkg service
installed, and I used setacl.exe to change the permissions on the
service so that non-admin users could start it.  I'm not sure if this
would work with Windows 7 or not, but it might solve half of your
problem.  I'm pretty sure that services can't interact with the
desktop in Vista and Win7, so that still leaves the task of notifying
the user of the update(s).

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but I thought I
throw it out there anyway.


Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Applying registry entry to all users (HKCU)

[Troy Hamilton]

On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 9:53 AM, Marco Gaiarin  wrote:

> Mandi! Troy Hamilton
>  In chel di` si favelave...
>
> > I would recommend using Active Setup (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Setup ).
>
> Very nice, but for me misses some requirement, particulary in this way
> there's no way to *impose* a settings, apart clearly build a complex
> logon script that check every user registry settings and if different
> from the current policy do something (eg, downgrade the policy revision
> itself, so at next logon can be installed again).


Yes, since Active Setup only runs the program/command once for each user
(and version of the AS entry) it does not work that well to "enforce"
settings as can be achieved via group policies.

I have previously thought about setting up a separate wpkg installation
which is run periodically as the logged-in-user to enforce such registry
settings, etc.  I planned to start cron.exe (
http://www.kalab.com/freeware/cron/cron.htm) at login running as the user
instead of the SYSTEM account (crons.exe).  Then, cron.exe would
periodically run wpkg-user-settings.bat which would apply packages based on
the users group membership, OU, etc. using Jindrich Vorlicek's enhancements
(search the list archives for "More ways of defining hosts in hosts.xml" if
interested).

I'd even thought about getting fancy and putting together an HTA or some
kind of user interface that would generate xml package files and reg files
based on the standard group policy adm files.

But since my organization uses AD GPOs, I never had a pressing need to
explore it any further.

3) Umpfh. A tool WPKG-like but user-based, that run on netlogon scripts.
> I've lost the link. ;)


I would certainly be interested in hearing about this tool if you find the
link.


Cheers,

Troy


>



> Looking around i've found interesting project that can mimic the
> ''microsoft GPO'', particulary:
>
> 1) if you can keep on XP, and eclusively for user settings (for system
>  settings we have WPKG itself) you can use the ''old style'' NT policy.
> Still you can use XP templates, with minor tweaks:
>http://www.pcc-services.com/custom_poledit.html
>http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910203/en-us
>
> 2) Use LGPO: seems that you can ''deploy'' the Local GPO and so
>  effectively use them; i've not follow for now this way, but
> interesting links are:
>http://lists.wpkg.org/pipermail/wpkg-users/2010-January/006197.html
>http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc784268(WS.10).aspx
>http://code.google.com/p/wpkg-gp/wiki/GroupPolicyReferences
>
> 3) Umpfh. A tool WPKG-like but user-based, that run on netlogon
>  scripts. I've lost the link. ;)
>
>
> Keeping on XP i'm still using 1, for now.
>
> --
> dott. Marco Gaiarin GNUPG Key ID: 240A3D66
>  Associazione ``La Nostra Famiglia''http://www.sv.lnf.it/
>  Polo FVG  -  Via della Bontà, 7 - 33078  -  San Vito al Tagliamento (PN)
>  marco.gaiarin(at)sv.lnf.it  tel +39-0434-842711  fax +39-0434-842797
>
>Dona il 5 PER MILLE a LA NOSTRA FAMIGLIA!
>   http://www.lanostrafamiglia.it/chi_siamo/5xmille.php
>(cf 00307430132, categoria ONLUS oppure RICERCA SANITARIA)
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Re: [wpkg-users] Applying registry entry to all users (HKCU)

[Troy Hamilton]

On Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 4:31 PM, Jon Rhoades  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> We need to force encryption between Outlook & Exchange as it's being
> updated to 2010.  The recommended way is to apply a Group policy, but since
> we have Samba...
>
> The registry key we need to set is:
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\RPC\EnableRPCEncryption
> with a DWORD value of 1.
>
> I would normally do something like:
> 
>
> But of course this is applied to the WPKG admin account's HKCU registry
> hive, not the user(s).
>
> Is there a way of adding it to all users registry hive?
>
>
I would recommend using Active Setup (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Setup).

These two install commands should get you on the right track, but I haven't
tested them at all.

Re: [wpkg-users] Script execution: failure. Exit code: 1

[Troy Hamilton]

On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 11:04 AM,  wrote:

> Hi Troy,
>
> Thats what I was thinking but I can't find a wpkg.bat file ..
> I can see wpkginst.exe and WPKGMessage.exe and those are compiled file so
> they can't be edited ...
> There isn't really a spot to add that line anywhere  I looked before asking
>
>
Are using WPKG Client (where you install the msi on each workstation)?


--Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Script execution: failure. Exit code: 1

[Troy Hamilton]

On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 6:28 AM, Ulli Conrad <
ulli.con...@bio.uni-goettingen.de> wrote:
>
> Another application (Apple Quicktime) has claimed handling of .js
> files (for whatever reason), so Windows Scripting Host didn't
> executed the wpkg.js file on the server...
> Solution is to reassign file type .js to WSH (in Windows Explorer -
> folder options - file types) and/or reinstall WSH (by right click on
> %windir%\inf\wsh.inf and select "Install").
>
>
Another way to avoid this problem without having to install that inf on each
machine is to explicitly specify the script type when you call wpkg.js:

cscript.exe //nologo /E:JScript %WPKGROOT%\wpkg.js /synchronize


--Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] SOLVED: Migrating printer ports to different subnet

[Troy Hamilton]

On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 7:50 AM, ejs  wrote:

> I've tested it today on site. The only problem is it can not change print
> server's port ir there are pending jobs to the selected printer. This
> conditions shoul never happen when running WPKG at startup.


I haven't run into this issue before, but you might try stopping and/or
restarting the spooler service before trying to change the port.


--Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Invalid user permissions

[Troy Hamilton]

On Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 3:05 PM, David Naylor wrote:

>
> The service doesn't seem to do anything so I have a script in the "all
> users" startup folder that runs the following command to kickstart it:
>
> cscript \\192.168.x.x\wpkg\wpkg.js /synchronize
>
> (where 192.168.x.x is the server address hosting wpkg scripts and target
> installers)
>
> Perhaps the script is what is running with the wrong permissions?  Ho hum.
>
>
Scripts in the "All Users" startup folder will run with the permissions of
the logging-in user.  So, yes, your restricted users won't have the ability
to run them.  You'll want to either get the wpkg service working correctly
(which I don't use, so I'm no help to troubleshoot it) or run your script
from HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run so that it runs as
the SYSTEM account (which has the appropriate permissions to install
software).  If you go with the second option, then you'll need to be sure
that "Domain Computers" or the appropriate group has read access to the wpkg
share on the server.


Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Bandwidth Limiting

[Troy Hamilton]

Trey,

You didn't mention what your network topology looks like, but if you have
multiple LANs with local fileservers, then the approach we use might work
for you.

We have 40 field locations each with their own LAN, fileserver, and 10 - 100
workstations.  Each field location is connected to the WAN via one or more
T1 lines.  Each fileserver has a software share with a full copy of all
software installers, etc.  Each workstation executes wpkg.bat which
determines the appropriate server based on the workstations IP address
(could also use computer name) and then sets %SOFTWARE% accordingly.  This
allows all workstations to install packages from a local network share
rather than over the WAN.  When a new installer becomes available, we just
have to update the package definition as usual and then use a script to push
the installer to those 40 servers.

Of course, this won't really help you if you don't have local fileservers
available for package storage.

Another idea might be to have wpkg.bat sleep for a random number of minutes
before starting wpkg.js.  That's definitely not as precise, but it might
work with some tweaking.  It's probably not as good of an option as using
wget with --limit-rate as Heiko suggested, though.


Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Checking for a Registry Value

[Troy Hamilton]

Hi Christopher,

On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 12:32 PM, Christopher Rector wrote:

>  I understand how the checks work to detect a given registry value, but how
> do you check for a default value that doesn't have a name other that
> (default)

...
> Here's what I want to look for and if it exists then I want to blank the
> value by importing a .reg file that deletes the current value.
>
> Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
>
> [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\IconHandler]
> @="{00021401---C000-0046}"
>
>
I know that this check will work to see if the default value exists:




If you really need your check to trigger on the exact value, then I would
try this:




I'm not sure if it will work, but you should be able to test it pretty
easily.


Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Copy CMD ....

[Troy Hamilton]

On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 2:21 PM,  wrote:

> Hi Guys,
>
> I have quick question I'm trying to copy some files from the WPKG(Server)
> to Local Machine its a virus database update ...
>
> I guess there is something wrong with my syntax bc its not working ...
> ...
>

>
>
I would recommend using XCOPY.EXE in place of COPY like so:

cmd='xcopy.exe %SOFTWARE%\WPKG\st\av\1.zz "C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\.zg\cc /Y"'/>

Since XCOPY is an executable, you don't need to run it with CMD.EXE.  If you
want to use the COPY command, though, then you will want to do it like this:

CMD.EXE /C COPY "source\file.ext" "destination\directory"

Also note that I wrapped your destination path in double quotes since it
includes spaces, and then I changed the outer quotes to singles.

Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] wpkg uninstall check subkey in registry

[Troy Hamilton]

On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 12:15 AM, Rainer Meier  wrote:

> Hi Mike,
> ...
> I did some tests with Windows XP and Windows 7 and found that none of them
> supported uninstall entries defined in sub-keys within the registry. The
> items
> put there simply did not appear within Control Panel > Software/Uninstall.
>


On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 10:44 AM, Pendl Stefan wrote:

> Hi Rainer,
>
> I think the check for the sub-keys is adding a huge delay to the whole
> process.
>
> With RC3 checking over 100 packages was done in a glimpse, but now it takes
> ages.
>
> I would recommend a setting to turn it on or off, or even better to create
> a check attribute for the sub-key-level-depth.
>


Since the sub-key uninstall entries don't show up in "Add or Remove
Programs" list (thus they are not true "uninstall" checks) should they be
treated the same as any other "registry" check so as to avoid the delay?

It appears that this must really be an edge case if it has never come up
before now.


Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Java hanging on install

[Troy Hamilton]

On Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 7:13 AM, Daniel Dehennin  wrote:

> Marc Hennes  writes:
>
> > Try to kill jqs.exe as first command. That worked for me.
>
> I do like on the wiki:
>
> net STOP JavaQuickStarterService 2> NUL > NUL
>

Daniel,

I had the exact same problem until I explicitly killed jqs.exe before trying
to uninstall the old versions.  Like Marc suggested, this is the first
command that I run:

taskkill /f /im jqs.exe /im iexplore.exe /im firefox.exe

It should work just as well from a bat file as from the xml package
definition.


Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] psexec could not start. access is denied

[Troy Hamilton]

On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 12:34 PM, Tomasz Chmielewski wrote:

> Am 20.05.2010 17:35, Troy Hamilton wrote:
>
>  In order to test this, open a command prompt running as the SYSTEM user
>> on one of your workstations: http://wpkg.org/SYSTEM_user_Command_Prompt
>>
>> Then, try to list the directory in which wpkg.js resides:
>>
>> dir \\myserver\wpkg
>>
>> If you get "Access is denied," then the permissions are not set correctly.
>>
>
> And when permissions are fixed, it still will not work I think?
>
> I.e. \\myserver\wpkg\wpkg.js should be started with "cscript" interpreter.
>
>
Yes, wpkg.js should still be executed by the cscript interpreter.  In my
case I use the recommended wpkg.bat included in the wpkg download.

In my environment, when the permissions are set correctly, the SYSTEM
account is able to list the share's directory contents with the dir
command.  We have, however, explicitly added all of our fileservers "trusted
domains" list under
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet
Settings\ZoneMap\Domains, so that might be why others would have different
results.

Cheers,

--Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] psexec could not start. access is denied

[Troy Hamilton]

On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 10:16 PM,  wrote:

> Hello list,
>
> I have run psexec -u mydomain\adminuser -p mypassword @hosts.xml -d -s -i
> \\myserver\wpkg\wpkg.js /qb SETTINGSFILE=\\myserver\settings.xml
>
> BUT it prompted me psexec could not start \\myserver\wpkg\wpkg.js on
> mycomputer.  Access is denied.
>
> How to troubleshoot this matter??  Pls help.. Thanks
>
>
Gloria,

Does the "Domain Computers" group have read and execute permissions at both
the share and filesystem level for "\\myserver\wpkg"?  At least on an Active
Directory domain, the "Everyone" or "Domain Computers" group needs
read/execute access at the share level, and the "Everyone" or "Domain
Computers" group needs read/execute access for the "wpkg" directory (ntfs
permissions).

In order to test this, open a command prompt running as the SYSTEM user on
one of your workstations:  http://wpkg.org/SYSTEM_user_Command_Prompt

Then, try to list the directory in which wpkg.js resides:

dir \\myserver\wpkg

If you get "Access is denied," then the permissions are not set correctly.

Cheers,

--Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] tool for task scheduling?

[Troy Hamilton]

2010/5/10 Grzegorz Marszałek 

> Hello!
>
> I need to schedule wpkgclient start - to run wpkg.js at diffirent times. I
> need this for running wpkg on servers (rare reboots) and laptops (also rare
> reboots - usually hibernate, and reboots not always in company networks).
>  ...

So - does anybody nows some wise commandline tool, where I can say: run this
> script at 10:00 from monday to friday - and it will JUST WORK on any windows
> system?
>

Grzegorz,

I've had great luck using both versions of CRON found here:

http://www.kalab.com/freeware/cron/cron.htm

I prefer these native versions to PyCron since they don't require a Python
installation.

For running WPKG, I use the crons.exe version which installs itself as a
service.  After copying crons.exe and a crontab file to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32,
I just run these two commands:

c:\windows\system32\crons.exe /install
c:\windows\system32\sc.exe start CRON

And here is an example of the crontab that I use (look out for wrapped lines
below):
-
# Basic crontab format:
#
# + minute (0 - 59)
# |  +- hour (0 - 23)
# |  |  +-- day of month (1 - 31)
# |  |  |  +--- month (1 - 12)
# |  |  |  |  + day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0)
# |  |  |  |  |
# *  *  *  *  *  command to be executed

# refresh the crontab file every 10 minutes
0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * c:\windows\system32\xcopy.exe /y "\\
fully.qualified.domain.name\NETLOGON\APPS\cron\crontab"
"c:\windows\system32"

# run wpkg.bat at 10pm, midnight, and 2am each day
0 22,0,2 * * * c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /c \\fully.qualified.domain.name\
NETLOGON\APPS\wpkg\wpkg.bat
-

That website also has a cron.exe version which can be run as the logged-in
user, but for running WPKG, I prefer to have the CRON service run as the
system user and just grant "Domain Computers" read/execute access to
%SOFTWARE%.

Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] AutoIt and wpkg

[Troy Hamilton]

On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 1:37 PM, Lukasz Zalewski wrote:

> Hi all,
> Has anyone had any experience/success with running AutoIt scripts with wpkg
> update. Is it possible? I have few packages that can't install silently
> without simulated point and click.
>

For a while I used AutoIT for my Brio Query (Hyperion) install before I
figured out the java installer.  It worked OK, but in my case, I had to make
sure that someone was logged in (explorer.exe process was running).
 Otherwise, AutoIT can't really interact with the UI.  I don't remember if I
was running wpkg as a service then, or not, but if so, you might have to
allow it to "interact with the user's desktop" (provided that you are on
WinXP).

When I was using the AutoIT install method, it would usually install on the
first try about 50% of the time.  When it failed, wpkg would successfully
install it after a reboot.

In summary, as a last resort, it should probably work "most of the time" but
it may not always be reliable.


Cheers,

--Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] using psexec to push client

[Troy Hamilton]

On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 1:56 PM, Petersen, Tom <
tom.peter...@sduniversitycenter.org> wrote:

> I tried using this to push the client:
>
> c:\PsTools\psexec -u usdsu.local\username -p password @ucs186.xml -d
> msiexec /i "\\usdsu.local\storage\its\uc-its\wpkg\WPKG Client 1.2.1.msi" /qb
> SETTINGSFILE=\\usdsu.local\storage\its\uc-its\wpkg\settings.xml
>

When using psexec or beyondexec in this manner, the credentials are only
used to authenticate on the remote workstation--they are not "passed
through" to authenticate you to network resources.

There is, however, a way around this.  First, grant the "Domain Computers"
group read access to the network resources you need.  Then, use the "-s"
switch with psexec or beyondexec to connect as the local system account.
Now, you (or the system account, actually) should have access to the network
share.

This may or may not be worthwhile if you're only going to use it to install
the wpkg msi.  However, I run wpkg.js under the system account, so I use
this method for all installs.

Cheers,

--Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Recording registry changes

[Troy Hamilton]

On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 4:22 AM, Anders Nilsson  wrote:
> I'm looking for a recommendation of a program to record registry changes
> (and possibly file changes) when installing software, or plugging in
> hardware for that matter.
>
> Anyway, any suggestions for such programs?
>

I've used both regshot (http://sourceforge.net/projects/regshot) and
regshot2 unicode (russian:  http://www.czechcup.com/regshot/ google
english translation:  http://tinyurl.com/csgmvt).

I was drawn to regshot because it's GPL'd, and but I later needed some
feature of regshot2.  I'm not certain, but I think that regshot2
outputs a regedit v4 file of the reg changes while regshot just logs
the changes to a text file.

In my experience, taking snapshots for repackaging should _always_ be
a last resort since it is pretty time consuming and error-prone.  I
have used it for troubleshooting at times, though.

Good luck.

--Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Feature request

[Troy Hamilton]

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 11:52 PM, Michael Ugilt  wrote:

>  Been struggling to get WPKG to work smoothly with wifi'ed laptops.
>
> The real issue is that the wifi connection takes some 10-14 seconds to come
> alive so a 10 second ping is working from time to time but not reliable.
>
> I have not been able to get the "offline custom script" method to work at
> all – running my script offline and debugging is doing fine – but not when
> called from within wpkg.
>
> I think what I really miss is a retry parameter for the ping test ie. 3
> times – or simple raise the build in 10 second max limitation
>
> Any thoughts?
>
What does your offline custom script look like right now?

Also, what would you like to happen if the wifi connection is not alive when
wpkg starts?  Do you want it to wait longer and try again, or would you
rather let the user log in and then try again after a few seconds/minutes?

--Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Silent and/or Periodic WPKG Service?

[Troy Hamilton]

Hi David,

On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 7:00 AM, David Davies <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 2. Instead of on startup prior to login, is there a way to run WPKG
> silently from a service after the machine is already on?  It would be
> nice if I could set it to run at a particular time interval (e.g, every
> 4 hours, once per day, etc.), resulting in a periodic pull of new
> software sort of like Windows Updates.

Here is my method:  wpkg-service-install.bat
--
@ECHO OFF
:: Note: be sure that srvany.exe is in the system32 directory and that
:: setacl.exe is in your path

set server=%1

sc delete wpkg

:: This will show a command window to the user
::sc create wpkg binpath= "%systemroot%\system32\srvany.exe" type= own
type= interact

:: This one won't show them anything
sc create wpkg binpath= "%systemroot%\system32\srvany.exe" type= own


:: Give limited users permission to start the service
setacl.exe -on "wpkg" -ot srv -actn ace -ace "n:Domain Users;p:start_stop"

:: Tell srvany where to find wpkg
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wpkg\Parameters" /v
"AppDirectory" /t REG_SZ /f /d "%systemroot%\system32
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wpkg\Parameters" /v
"Application" /t REG_SZ /f /d "\\%server%\software\wpkg\wpkg-start.bat


:: Start it immediately
net start wpkg

:: Or wait until the next user logs in
::reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce" /v
wpkg /t REG_SZ /d "net start wpkg" /f

:: Or run it each time a user logs in
::reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /v wpkg
/t REG_SZ /d "net start wpkg" /f


With this method, you'll want to make sure that "Domain Computers" or
equivalent have access to the share(s) since the service doesn't run
as a domain user (although it could).

I also have a cron service running on each workstation, so I just have
a crontab entry of:
0 0 * * * net start wpkg

which runs wpkg each midnight.

BTW, I've also got "net stop wpkg" at the end of wpkg-start.bat.

Cheers,

---Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] (no subject)

[Troy Hamilton]

Brian,

On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 8:40 AM, Brian Reese
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hey Guys,
>
> I had a few questions today. First, can you have multiple entries in one .XML 
> file? For >instance, if I choose to create an XML for each package and put it 
> in package folder, >instead of using packages.xml, could I do something like 
> put 10 packages in each file? Or >even separate by profile. This way I don't 
> have an XML for each package nor do I have to >find all the packages in one 
> huge file.

That should work just fine.  I have about 30 xml files in my packages
directory.  Each file contains between one and five package
definitions.  Works like a charm.

> Also, How does WPKG handle package overlap between profiles? If I have two 
> profiles that >have the same program and a few users that need to be in both 
> groups, will WPKG detect >the first install and add a successful entry to 
> wpkg.xml without reinstalling?

WPKG handles package and profile overlap just fine.  As long as you
have your "checks" set up correctly, wpkg won't try to reinstall a
packages just because it's found in more than one applied profile.

> If I have 5 packages in one profile and 3 of them require reboot, If I set 
> those three >packages to reboot=true, will it reboot after each package, come 
> back up and process the >next one? Or will it recognize all three and just 
> reboot once at the end?

I'm going to defer to someone else on this one since I'm not 100% sure
about the order of precedence between reboot directives in packages,
on the command line, and in config.xml.

Aside from that, though, when it does reboot, wpkg will continue
installing the next time the service starts or the script is run.

> The last question is in regards to a previous post: "Re: [wpkg-users] Silent 
> and/or Periodic WPKG Service?"
>
>>David Davies said:
>>> 1. Is there a way not to show the "WPKG Software Deployment" window when
>>> the service is running?  I know the idea is to delay login so that WPKG
>>> can do its thing, but that's not always desirable.
>
> Tomasz Chmielewski said:
>>Don't enable that feature (i.e., set timeout to 0).
>
> I noticed a similar reaction in my office, especially since our logon scripts 
> could use some >revisions. If I set my timeout to something like 30 seconds, 
> and a package takes 2 minutes >to install, will it stop and fail after the 30 
> seconds? or will it simply continue the remaining >1m 30s of install time 
> while the user is logged in?

I'm pretty sure that the install will continue with the user logged
in.  The only problem is if the install calls for a reboot and the
user has already logged in and started working.

I'm very picky about short login times, so I run wpkg as a service
that I start manually from a cron job or with sc.exe.

Hopefully others will correct me if I got any of this wrong.

Cheers,

Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] Installs from start to finish....

[Troy Hamilton]

On Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 12:58 AM, Berge Schwebs Bjørlo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
wrote:
>
> On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 08:20:23PM -0400, Kevin Landers wrote:
> > I would be very interested in hearing your methods for such an installation
> > process.

> I'd be happy to put the source somewhere and write something about it
> English, since people seem interested, though. I probably won't have the time
> until after this weekend, but I'll keep you posted.
>
> [0] http://itk.samfundet.no/dok/suwi
>

Berge,

I too would be very interested in your linux/dosemu windows
installation system.  I tried the google translation of your Norwegian
documentation, but it didn't turn out too well.

The idea of a bare metal windows install plus applications install is
what got me interested in wpkg to start with.  I looked at
http://unattended.sf.net, but I wanted to use the same system for
upgrading and installing apps on production workstations that I used
for installing/deploying freshly installed workstations.  Wpkg fits
this role quite nicely, but I've still got to work out some kinks in
the process.


On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 3:55 PM, Adam Williams
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> thats cool that you have a CD that installs everything you need, too bad I
> can't do that at my work, we have a dozen different kind of computers, a lot
> of people using different kinds of software, etc.

Actually, that is the precise reason that I wanted to replace our
current Ghost-based deployment process with an unattended windows
install process.  Instead of trying to keep one ghost image updated
for each workstation model, I just have the winxp install cd on a
network share along with the drivers for all workstations.  The
windows installer (winnt.exe or winnt32.exe) takes care of hardware
detection and driver selection, workstation naming, domain joining,
etc.  Then cmdlines.txt starts up wpkg after installation to install
and configure the applications.

For the windows install process, I originally went with MS RIS
(legacy, not WDS), but I abandoned it for two reasons: 1) the BINL
server required tracking down and installing text mode drivers for all
nics in addition to the regular drivers needed for winxp, and 2) RIS
is way too tightly integrated to Active Directory--if your schema
master or replication gets hosed up, the RIS server cannot determine
if it is "authorized" to start.  Next, I went to RIS-Linux, but it
still required separate text mode drivers.  Next, I tried to get
dosemu working with slax, but I gave up after a few attempts.

Currently I'm using winpe 2.0 (vistape) boot images created with the
Windows Automated Installation Toolkit.  I've got a cmd script
(originally from bootland, I think) that creates a pxe bootable image,
an iso, and usb bootable image.  After booting it up (usually via
pxe), I have an hta login screen that maps a network drive to the
winxp install media share and prepares an unattended.txt file with the
correct workstation name, OU, domain credentials, etc.  22 minutes
later, I've got a freshly installed workstation with wpkg installing
applications.

Even though the vistape system works OK, there are a few reasons that
I would abandon it for a linux/dosemu system.  First, vistape takes
about 2 minutes, 20 seconds to boot up and initialize the hardware.
I'm pretty sure I could shave that down to 30 seconds with linux.
Secondly, in my experience, linux has better out of the box support
for nics.  Right now, vistape has most drivers built in, but in a
couple years, I'm guessing that I'll have to inject more drivers into
the boot images.  Lastly, vistape makes it almost impossible to set
the nic to full duplex from the command line.  (Our switches are set
to 100full.)

One situation where vistape comes in handy, though, is that I can run
ghost32.exe from the network.  So after I've installed a new model of
workstation and let wpkg do its magic, I can pxe boot, take a ghost
image of the drive, and then mulicast it to an entire lab of computers
at once.

Cheers,

--Troy
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Re: [wpkg-users] more unexpected installation

[Troy Hamilton]

On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 5:57 PM, Mark Nienberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> So to fix this I changed the definition of the package on the server and 
> incremented
> the revision number as follows:
>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>
>
>
> 
> 
>
> I expected that wpkg would notice the revision number, run the upgrade 
> commands (none
> provided) and test the check condition, which would be satisfied, so it would 
> update
> the package definition in the local wpkg.xml file.
>
> Instead, it tries to run the install command, which fails.
>

What about adding:



--Troy
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