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Setup-Manager for ReactOS

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:17 pm
by Erlenmayr
I habe few ideas, how to improve the installation of software in ReactOS. Maybe it is much too early now to think about such thinks, but in later versions of ReactOs it may be worth making such a tool.

It is terrible, that any application that you install in Windows has its own setup-routine and spreads files anywhere in the filesystem and makes entries anywhere in the registry. And when you don't need the programm any more and use the uninstall-routine to delete it, there is mostly no option to get everything clean again.

So I think of a setup manager which controlls any setup and records any file the setups create, so that it can be removed completely later.
By this programm there should be a standarized file type which can be easily installed and remove by the setup manager - as we know it e.g. from the RPM and Debian packet managers.


A second application could be an import assistent for people who own original versions of Windows, which automaticly imports drivers and other things from windows, which is maybe not available in ReactOS in the near future. Things like for example the NTFS drivers.

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:58 pm
by Quigs
I was thinking something like this, maybe a way to run an exe so it has access to a "fake" system directory and a "fake" registry so it cant cause any damage if it happens to be a virus...

Or it could just force a prompt every time a file is added to a system directory / the registry... That way if you see its doing something wrong, you can kill it before it actually does any damage...

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:54 pm
by Erlenmayr
I firstly thought of a fake environment, too, but that seems to be very difficult and complex.

But it would be surely no bad idea to make a standarized packet manager, which can be used to install precompiled open-source applications for ReactOS, the same way as RPM is a "standard" in linux distributions.

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:56 pm
by mf
Erlenmayr wrote:But it would be surely no bad idea to make a standarized packet manager, which can be used to install precompiled open-source applications for ReactOS, the same way as RPM is a "standard" in linux distributions.
http://reactos.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=395
:O

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:49 pm
by Delfi
its not worth the trouble i think and please let the ros programmers
first complete the core and shell!!

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:29 am
by SirTalon
Delfi wrote:its not worth the trouble i think and please let the ros programmers
first complete the core and shell!!
Actually the people developing the package manager aren't developing the core and shell. Remember this is an open source project, so people developing in one area may not want to be (or can) develop in another.

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 12:18 pm
by user222
Quigs wrote:Or it could just force a prompt every time a file is added to a system directory / the registry... That way if you see its doing something wrong, you can kill it before it actually does any damage...
That would be way too annoying, if the prompt could not be disabled. It would be best to have a "yes to all" option in the prompt dialog.

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 12:51 pm
by AcetoliNe
Having a fake registry sounds great, but I shudder to think of the complexities of implementing it. It would not be an easy task. I'm all for it if someone comes along and does it, but it is in my opinion very hard to do.
Or it could just force a prompt every time a file is added to a system directory / the registry... That way if you see its doing something wrong, you can kill it before it actually does any damage...
Aside from being annoying, that wouldn't really be of any significance. All a user can do is answer 'yes' or 'no' to a prompt. Answer no, and you're registry might be saved, but the program probably won't work properly, so most users would be compelled to answer 'yes to all' and therefore there would be no difference between having a prompt and not having one.

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:32 pm
by uniQ
Maybe instead of that, have ROS save a copy of the changes to the registry (That is, before carrying out a change, save the old value to a .reg file) to the install path of the program. That way, when uninstalling a program, ROS could prompt "Do you want to restore the registry to the state it was in prior to the installation of this program?" or something like that. Maybe use a different extention (.irb — Installation Registry Backup, or something like that)?

Anyway, RfC.

-uniQ

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 3:20 pm
by Meklort
uniQ wrote:Maybe instead of that, have ROS save a copy of the changes to the registry (That is, before carrying out a change, save the old value to a .reg file) to the install path of the program. That way, when uninstalling a program, ROS could prompt "Do you want to restore the registry to the state it was in prior to the installation of this program?" or something like that. Maybe use a different extention (.irb — Installation Registry Backup, or something like that)?

Anyway, RfC.

-uniQ
Sounds like a good idea, but if you installed anything newer, it wouldnt work, so how about you stor all the registery changes, and when you uninstall just ask if you want to remove all the keys that the program installed

Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 6:33 pm
by Quigs
Problem here is once a program runs with Administrator Access and edits the registry / System files, its all over...

Well...

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:19 pm
by forart
...i think that we need a completely new concept of installation.
Do you know DVX ?
It has a really interesting feature: the update feature.
It connects to the official websites of the related applications and check if there are new versions.
I think that this concept could be extended to solve many other patent issues too.
It would be great to have an "installation tool" that connects to a specified CVS and downloads the latest source code. Then it compiles it with your processor's parameters and put the files in the system.

Just an idea !

Re: Well...

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 6:02 pm
by Erlenmayr
patchworks wrote:...i think that we need a completely new concept of installation.
Do you know DVX ?
It has a really interesting feature: the update feature.
It connects to the official websites of the related applications and check if there are new versions.
I think that this concept could be extended to solve many other patent issues too.
It would be great to have an "installation tool" that connects to a specified CVS and downloads the latest source code. Then it compiles it with your processor's parameters and put the files in the system.

Just an idea !
That is a good idea and you can guess that you are not the first to think about it.

But it is very important for ReactOs to be compatible to Windows NT. If we integrate only Open Source and Free Software with such tools without the possibility to intall the software you can buy in the shops, there is no reason to make Reactos compatible to Windows NT.

It would be a good idea to make such a tool, which updates the ReactOS system features that way.

Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:10 am
by MadRat
How is ROS's "Slipstream" package management function going to work?