Re: New desktop features provided by new version of update-notifier

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org>]

On Sat, Aug 12, 2006 at 09:45:02PM -0300, Gustavo Noronha Silva wrote:
> Em Sat, 12 Aug 2006 19:26:51 -0500
> John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org> escreveu:
> 
> > To say that any library fixing security problems will require a reboot
> > is outrageous.  It is quite possible to restart any impacted services
> > instead.  You're second-guessing the administrator's judgment.
> 
> Not really; if the machine does have an 'administrator':
> 
>  1) they would probably be using their own methods of keeping software
>     up-to-date
>  2) they'd know when to reboot, and would ignore the message (that's
>     what I'd do)

Not if this is their first exposure to Debian.  Say you were a
seasoned Solaris admin, and you installed Debian to play around with.
You get a prompt saying that you have to reboot because zlib or
something has been upgraded.  Are you going to think this is a serious
operating system, suitable for server-class work?

I doubt it.

> > If you were to call this a *suggested reboot*, with text that states
> > that a person could also achieve the desired effect by simply
> > restarting certain processes, I'd have no problem with it.
> 
> Even with those arguments in mind, do you have a suggested text that
> would still be good for beginners?

How about:

 "Important packages [list the packages] have been upgraded and
  provide security or stability improvements.  The easiest way to
  make these improvements take effect is to reboot your system.
  However, you may alternatively manually restart any services
  that use these packages without a reboot."

> It will not be disturbing you every once in a while, like windows
> update, heh.

Probably also won't be validating your machine with Microsoft, but
still ;-)

> So, again, notice that if a machine is on a network administered
> centrally or has an 'administrator' for some other reason, there would
> be no real need for update-notifier to be even installed, so I'd like to
> focus here on end-user desktops, only.

I understand, but I am concerned that people just learning Debian
won't.

Let's make Debian simple for the desktop user, certainly, but let's
not lie to them in the process.  A reboot really isn't necessary in
Debian with pretty much anything but kernel updates, so let's not say
that it is.

-- John