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List:       opensuse-factory
Subject:    Re: [opensuse-factory] Update while active graphical desktop session made logout impossible
From:       Guido Berhoerster <gber () opensuse ! org>
Date:       2012-12-20 20:20:53
Message-ID: 20121220202051.GE28958 () hal ! local ! invalid
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* Lars Müller <lmuelle@suse.com> [2012-12-20 19:52]:
> Hi,
> 
> a recent update to KDE made it impossible to the user to logout or
> to shutdown the system.
> 
> Therefore I suggest to change our default way how updates are applied.
> 
> a) Always download the updates in advance in the background
> 
> We could even be more elegant and throttle the download speed if other
> processes use the same link.
> 
> b) Apply the updates on shutdown
> 
> Doing b) after the user finished the X sesison ensures we never lock her
> in.
> 
> Via a new setting is a /etc/sysconfig/ file we're able to change the
> default.  For example to apply updates always at system startup or to
> keep the update process at the same way as it currently is.
> 
> Maybe we're already able to achieve this and I missed the configuration
> option.  But our current default settings lead to the described desktop
> lock situation.

Please no, lets not copy this awful design from Windows/OSX.
Rather get some inspiration from beadm and utilize snapper to
create a snapshot of the system fs, mount and chroot into it,
apply the updates, and finally make it the default to boot into
on the next reboot.
That not only avoids the downsides such as annoyingly long
shutdown times for desktop users or long downtimes for servers
but it has also the advantage that it makes updates safe. If
something goes wrong during the update no harm is done and if the
updated boot environment does not boot or is broken you can
simply reboot into the pre-update environment.
Of course that'd require a fs with writable snapshots like btrfs
and would put some constraints on the fs layout but since this
can remain an optional feature that should not be a problem.
-- 
Guido Berhoerster
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