[OPEN-ILS-DEV] Testing Staff Client Silent Install

[Jason Stephenson]

Quoting Josh Stompro <stomproj at exchange.larl.org>:

> Hello, I'm trying to setup a silent install of the staff client for  
> a testing version of the server.  A place where any staff can have  
> full reign of the system to try stuff out etc.  I'm sure many sites  
> do this.  I'm wondering if there are any best practices for having a  
> staff client testing instance installed on the same machine that has  
> the production instance.
>
> Here is what I'm doing so far.
>
> *         rigbeta option so the icons will be a different color.
>
> *         custom  STAFF_CLIENT_VERSION so the installer has a different name.

Specifying STAFF_CLIENT_NAME=evergreen_test or something other
than open_ils_staff_client will also solve several of your
problems below. Put that on the make line with rigbeta.

You will get a different application installation directory and a
different APPDATA profile directory.

The above will have the side effect of allowing both clients to
be open at the same time. For this reason, we actually give the
production and training staff clients the same name, but
different versions, so that staff can only run one at a time. We
believe this cuts down on confusion, such as transactions
happening in the wrong database.

We use the permachine option on both production and training
clients to keep the preferences separate.

>
> I've been trying to figure out how to set a custom default install  
> folder for the windows installer, but I haven't figured that out  
> yet.  Is there a way to do it at staff client build time.. or should  
> I be setting that with arguments to the installer file.
>
> I'm going to try and create a silent install package with our OCS  
> Inventory NG system, so I can just push it out to certain staff  
> machines automatically.
>
> I tried
> LARL-EG-Test1-2.8.2_setup.exe /S /D=c:\Program Files (x86)\Evergreen  
> Client LARL-EG-Test1
> And that did do the trick
>
> Also, is there a way to force a custom client profile directory, the  
> default is %APPDATA%/openils/.  So that preferences are not shared  
> and the staff don't have to change the hostname.

Use permachine on the make line with rigbeta and the test
client's prefs will be stored in the program directory. Or, as
mentioned above specifying STAFF_CLIENT_NAME will give a
different profile directory.

You can also specify the default hostname for the client when
building, as well as the hostname for automatic updates. You do
this on the initial Evergreen configure line. Below are the
options that I use for my devleopment staff clients:

	--with-updateshost=jasondev.mvlcstaff.org \
	--with-initialhost=jasondev.mvlcstaff.org

You change the hostnames as appropriate. With those options set,
automatic windows updates should work, and staff won't need to
enter the hostname when the client starts up for the first time.


>
> Or am I making this too hard, do you normally just change the  
> hostname to your test system and use the same client install for  
> production and test?

We don't use the same client at MVLC. Largely because our
training/test server is used to demo new features, etc., before
we upgrade production.  They are often out of sync so the same
staff client version is not guaranteed to work.

As others have answered, other sites do it differently.

Hope that helps,
Jason
>
> Thanks
> Josh


-- 
Jason Stephenson
Assistant Director for Technology Services
Merrimack Valley Library Consortium
4 High ST, Suite 175
North Andover, MA 01845
Phone: 978-557-5891
Email: jstephenson at mvlc.org