[packagekit] availability of a distribution upgrade

[Richard Hughes]

On Mon, 2008-08-18 at 10:26 +0200, Duncan Mac-Vicar Prett wrote:
> > "gksu /usr/bin/do-release-upgrade")
> >   
> That was I mentioned in the original proposal.

Well, using gtksu is a giant bodge in my opinion.

> However, the problem is, either we leave up to the client to know the 
> right program to execute (a console client would fire up a console
> tool, a GUI client would fire up its desktop specific tool) or we
> force every distro to wrap the program to execute in a script that
> handles the environment (graphics mode, running desktop)

In an ideal world (meh) this is what I would like to see happen:

C = client (session, user)
S = server (system, root)

C: GetDistroUpgrades()
S: stable, fedora9, "Fedora 9 is probably a good distro"

C: msgbox("There is new distro available, click here to upgrade");
C: {wait for interaction}
C: User clicks "upgrade"

C: InstallPackage("preupgrade") //installs all the prereqstuff, handles
reboots and that sort of thing
S: Finished(success)

C: reboot

or, even easier, if the distro supports on line upgrading, we can just
do something like:

C: SetRepoData(fedora,"upgrade-metasource","fedora9");
S: Finished(success)

C: UpdateSystem()
S: Finished()

So the client gets the upgrade list, and handles the do you want to
upgrade bit. This is a PackageKit job I think. Then all the actions that
require root go through PackageKit.

I really think using gtksu is a path to a world of pain.

Richard.