Documentation/Labs/AutomaticUpdateAndInstallationFramework

From Slicer Wiki
Revision as of 09:49, 17 January 2017 by Mneugebauer (talk | contribs) (added feedback from JC from the hangout in december)
Jump to: navigation, search
Home < Documentation < Labs < AutomaticUpdateAndInstallationFramework

Overview

This page serves as roadmap for the Slicer Automatic Update and Installation framework.

Use cases:

  • New Slicer version installed locally should be updated with the list of extensions previously installed.
  • Self update of Slicer

Terminology

  • User Interface
    • Extensions Manager is a Slicer dialog allowing the user to Search, Install, Remove and disable extensions.
    • ExtensionWizard module: This is a Slicer module providing a graphical interface within Slicer to aid in the creation of Slicer extensions.



Convention

Tasks listed in this page can be associated with any of these state:

  • ToBeDone
  • Check.svg Completed
  • In progress

Use case: Keep track of the installed extensions across version

The goal here is to simplify the number of steps allowing people to reinstall extensions that were used in a previous installation.

Idea

  • After installing a new version of Slicer, the user can select from all previously installed extensions and batch-install them
  • extensions installed in the last (previous) Slicer versions are marked and preselected (one click-solution for getting the previous setup)
  • extensions that where previously installed but are not compatible for some reason, are shown but not selectable
  • UI: a third tab ("Restore Extensions") should be added to the Extension Manager and provide at least a list view for selection / a button button for installing the selected extensions

Gathering information about previous extensions

  • extensions information / subfolders containing the extensions are available in the "NA-MIC" folder
    • on Linux, that's in ~/.config/NA-MIC
    • on Windows, in AppData/Roaming
    • on OS X, seems to be a subdirectory of the application bundle
  • folder contains and Slicer-[Revision].ini file that points to paths relevant for extensions (modules/libraries/dependencies)
  • however, no explicit information about installed extensions are stored there, information about installed extension is gathered at runtime by parsing the extension subfolders
  • PROPOSAL: added the extension IDs of all currently installed extensions in an additional setting information [Extensions]/InstalledExtension, thus, no folders need to be parsed and only the .ini files are needed

Changes

  • Base/QTGUI/Resources/UI/qSlicerExtensionsManagerWidget.ui
    • a new tab ("Restore Extensions") was added
    • this tab contains a placeholder-widget for the qSlicerExtensionsRestoreWidget
  • qSlicerExtensionsManagerModel
    • add a function that provides informations about previous extensions: getExtensionRestoreInformation()
    • add a callback for tracking the progress during non-update related updates: onInstallDownloadProgress (used in: downloadAndInstallExtension)
    • extend installExtension / scheduleExtensionForUninstall to add (remove) ids of installed extensions to a new parameter [Extensions]/InstalledExtension

Addition

  • qSlicerExtensionsRestoreWidget
    • a new widget that renders a list of available extension that were previously installed
    • on initialization it calls getExtensionRestoreInformation() and builds a ListItemWidget
    • if "Install selected" is triggered, downloadAndInstallExtension is called sequentially for each selected extension
    • after installation of all extensions, the list is updated
Screenshot of the "restore extension" widget

Progress

  • Adapt extensions manager model to provide neccessary information Check.svg Completed
  • Extend the UI of the extensions manager (new tab, new widget) Check.svg Completed
  • Add a widget that provides a selectable list of previously installed extensions Check.svg Completed
  • Install procedure (with feedback) for selected extensions Check.svg Completed
  • Discuss the proposed solution with JC Check.svg Completed
  • Adapt solution accordingly ToBeDone
  • Submit solution ToBeDone

Patch

Questions

  • Does the uninstall progress also remove the extension-subfolders? (yes)
  • Is the proposed solution (accessing the .ini file) suitable for all OS? (yes)
  • How could settings of previous Slicer installations be accessed under MacOS? (same way as for other platforms)

Feedback from JC on first version (12/08/2016)

  • Generally agrees to current solution
  • Solution should be compatible to all platforms (there is a central config/extension folder also on MacOS)
  • Suggested Changes:
    • add a legend to explain color coding (green, gray, black, marked - unmarked) of the presented extensions
    • check for extension compatibility currently deactivated, because model functionality used local information to check compatibility
      • JC added patch to add server-side information to the compatibility check
      • commit d448b1c9634c71a61b3476a98bfccffba6bcedb5
    • would be better to track previously installed extensions in the central, not revision-dependent slicer.ini
      • thus, no (possibly error-prone) parsing of the file names is necessary
      • also, we would no long have to rely on a central saving location for all extension related information (currently the NA-MIC folder = Extension install path)
      • Structure could be:
        • [installedExtensionsHistory] → [Revision] → [ExtensionID]
      • To enable access to slicer.ini the SlicerCoreApp needs to be extened (e.g. getHistoryFilePath, see. line 319, qSlicerCoreApp.cxx)
  • Additional Information:
    • Q: Why are extensions not removed after uninstalling Slicer?
    • A: related to NSIS installer setup, could be changed if installation setup is changed
    • Q: How could an semi-/automatic update be realized?
    • A:
      • Change of the underlying QT framework (would mean fundamental changes to the current setup)
      • or: use an approach similar to the installation of extensions, by having a central store for new slicer version
      • no auto-uninstall but auto-install / maybe just a popup on start, with a link to the new version
      • since extension information is saved in central slicer.ini the installation of extensions could be triggered on the first start of the new version
  • General vision (this addition to the extension manager is the first step):
    • core Slicer application + profiles (e.g. using the same set of extensions / setup / layout that was used for a paper) :
    • pre-packed Slicer versions available for downloads
    • can be extended with downloadable profiles

Completed

NA

Use case: Self update of Slicer

Proposed Changes

  • Display list of nightly builds in a web view
  • Selecting a new version should automate:
    • download
    • auto-start installer, with extra information for the next steps
    • auto-start new Slicer
    • possibly, directly going to the above extensions-reinstallation tab (maybe not even showing the main window before)
  • stuff that is there, or might be useful
    • cross-platform re-start functionality is there (as part of extension installation)
    • probably, at least on Win/Linux, "start Slicer after installation" is possible
    • unattended installation on any platform(s)?

Notes

2016.05.03

  • Serialize what is installed in you current Slicer
Retrieved from "https://www.slicer.org/w/index.php?title=Documentation/Labs/AutomaticUpdateAndInstallationFramework&oldid=49373"