I am running Peppermint OS Devuan Daedalus xfce, as a fresh install to a laptop. The xDaily updater is new to me, and I have an important question about it.
If I run xDaily from the icon in the system tray, it does NOT run in interactive mode. That is, it does NOT ask me if I want to list updates, or upgrade packages, or clear caches, etc. It just rapidly performs all those actions. The whole process goes by so fast, I cannot even speed read "what just happened?" So, I figured this tool is not for me, because I like control over changes being made to my system.
Therefore I installed package-update-indicator, which I have used with xfce on other distros, and it works just fine. I have it configured to use Synaptic, which it opens automatically.
However, I got curious about xDaily, and noted that the tray launcher is using "sudo xDaily" as the command.
I tried running this command in a regular terminal, and got the same result: NO interactive mode.
I further noticed that there is a launcher for xDaily in the Peppermint Hub. I tried that launcher, and VOILA, xDaily opened in interactive mode. I was given a y/n choice at each step of the way.
Can someone tell me what is the command being executed by the xDaily button in the Hub? Perhaps I could swap that command into the system tray launcher.
Or is there some other method to make the tray launcher open in interactive mode?
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Oh, well. I grabbed the code from Source Forge and noted the following:
### Our options are going to be
# = "full output to the terminal, no stopping."
# -i = "interactive"
# -q = "interactive but suppressed output"
OPTIND="0"
for i in _quiet _interactive ; do unset -v $i ; done
So I changed the tray launcher command to
sudo xDaily -i
and now I have interactive mode.
Hence, the tray launcher now makes xDaily a useful alternative to package-update-indicator for handling system updates on a regular basis.
package-update-indicator has the advantage that it alerts you when updates are available.
xDaily has the advantage that it offers to do system cleanup in addition to package updates.
Probably worth keeping both in the tray for now.
Last edit: Iggy64 2024-02-03
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Anonymous
-
2024-02-04
Hi Iggy,
The icon for xDaily in the panel, is for new users who generally are not interested how or why they update/upgrade their system. It is for ease of use purposes. Its done "Plain and Simple".
You appear to be over thinking things, if you want to know what is going on with our system update tool, open a terminal and type sudo xDaily and enter your password when prompted. Once it has done all its required commands, enlarge the terminal to view what it is telling you.
I've the enclosed screenshot from this mornings update of my Daedalus system on a Dell Optiplex 3040 Micro desktop, we have gone for the Hollywood effect after forum members requested the NALA format.
Thank you for your very kind and very complete response.
I had read some blurbs describing xDaily, and each mentioned that the user would be given option of allowing or declining each group of changes available on one's system. I was simply surprised when I gave it a try (from the panel launcher) and the whole process buzzed by with no interaction whatsoever. Later, when I tried it from the Hub, I got the interaction. That's when I checked the code and saw that the "-i" option can be appended to invoke the interaction. It was a simple matter to add this to the panel launcher. As I have various machines running various non-systemd distros, I am monitoring what packages are being offered for installation or upgrade, comparing one OS versus another. I usually set up some pinning in the apt configuration folder, to provide an additional watchdog on what is coming and going.
I certainly didn't mean to be critical in any way of the excellent setup in Peppermint OS Devuan. In fact, I think it is so well done it makes Devuan much easier to install and utilize. I am very grateful to you and the other devs who provide us with this avenue.
And I probably wasn't "overthinking" things in this instance. Fact is, I was more likely "underthinking." I had to tell myself "duh" when I realized how simple and obvious the modification was that let me fine tune the panel launcher for my particular use case.
Thanks again for taking time to comment, and - again - for your work on this very capable and enjoyable distro.
Last edit: Iggy64 2024-02-04
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Yeah @Iggy Cavy is right. when we first released xDaily the community members was saying that the panel was too much interaction. So in that case we fast tracked it. While in the hub it gets interactive, But all that said, I am really glad to see you got a setup that fits your needs. Super stoked to see your use cases. nice! ..... Thanks so much for being here your feedback is most welcome!
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Thanks for your input, Peppermint OS! I certainly can understand the thinking that went into setting up the xDaily panel launcher in "automatic" mode. It's great that you responded to the community feedback and made the default behavior benefit the majority of users.
I regret that I published my initial confusion on this board before properly examining the code for xDaily. As noted earlier, I had read a couple of publications praising xDaily, and describing its interactive nature. No doubt they were referring to the Hub launcher. I wasn't thoughtful enough to consider that the panel launcher might have a slightly different configuration, and for good reason. Thanks to you and Cavy for clarifying .
Thanks, too, for all the thoughtful effort that goes into Peppermint OS. I have been using vanilla Devuan for quite some time, but find it a chore to set up and maintain, especially for other users I like to help. The Peppermint spin makes Devuan accessible to a broader range of users, and that is a wonderful thing. I had hoped that LMDE would one day flip to Devuan; but Peppermint is even closer to the traditional Linux concepts that I value so highly. Kudos for providing the Devuan spin. It no doubt creates significantly more work for you, but it is an important contribution to the spirit of Linux.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I am running Peppermint OS Devuan Daedalus xfce, as a fresh install to a laptop. The xDaily updater is new to me, and I have an important question about it.
If I run xDaily from the icon in the system tray, it does NOT run in interactive mode. That is, it does NOT ask me if I want to list updates, or upgrade packages, or clear caches, etc. It just rapidly performs all those actions. The whole process goes by so fast, I cannot even speed read "what just happened?" So, I figured this tool is not for me, because I like control over changes being made to my system.
Therefore I installed package-update-indicator, which I have used with xfce on other distros, and it works just fine. I have it configured to use Synaptic, which it opens automatically.
However, I got curious about xDaily, and noted that the tray launcher is using "sudo xDaily" as the command.
I tried running this command in a regular terminal, and got the same result: NO interactive mode.
I further noticed that there is a launcher for xDaily in the Peppermint Hub. I tried that launcher, and VOILA, xDaily opened in interactive mode. I was given a y/n choice at each step of the way.
Can someone tell me what is the command being executed by the xDaily button in the Hub? Perhaps I could swap that command into the system tray launcher.
Or is there some other method to make the tray launcher open in interactive mode?
Oh, well. I grabbed the code from Source Forge and noted the following:
So I changed the tray launcher command to
sudo xDaily -i
and now I have interactive mode.
Hence, the tray launcher now makes xDaily a useful alternative to package-update-indicator for handling system updates on a regular basis.
package-update-indicator has the advantage that it alerts you when updates are available.
xDaily has the advantage that it offers to do system cleanup in addition to package updates.
Probably worth keeping both in the tray for now.
Last edit: Iggy64 2024-02-03
Hi Iggy,
The icon for xDaily in the panel, is for new users who generally are not interested how or why they update/upgrade their system. It is for ease of use purposes. Its done "Plain and Simple".
You appear to be over thinking things, if you want to know what is going on with our system update tool, open a terminal and type
sudo xDailyand enter your password when prompted. Once it has done all its required commands, enlarge the terminal to view what it is telling you.I've the enclosed screenshot from this mornings update of my Daedalus system on a Dell Optiplex 3040 Micro desktop, we have gone for the Hollywood effect after forum members requested the NALA format.
Me I prefer the original plain and simple format, our wiki entry for xDaily: https://sourceforge.net/p/peppermintos/pepwiki/xDaily%20-%20A%20Complete%20System%20Updater/ if you would like to revert to the plain and simple xDaily format.
Last edit: Anonymous 2024-02-04
Thank you for your very kind and very complete response.
I had read some blurbs describing xDaily, and each mentioned that the user would be given option of allowing or declining each group of changes available on one's system. I was simply surprised when I gave it a try (from the panel launcher) and the whole process buzzed by with no interaction whatsoever. Later, when I tried it from the Hub, I got the interaction. That's when I checked the code and saw that the "-i" option can be appended to invoke the interaction. It was a simple matter to add this to the panel launcher. As I have various machines running various non-systemd distros, I am monitoring what packages are being offered for installation or upgrade, comparing one OS versus another. I usually set up some pinning in the apt configuration folder, to provide an additional watchdog on what is coming and going.
I certainly didn't mean to be critical in any way of the excellent setup in Peppermint OS Devuan. In fact, I think it is so well done it makes Devuan much easier to install and utilize. I am very grateful to you and the other devs who provide us with this avenue.
And I probably wasn't "overthinking" things in this instance. Fact is, I was more likely "underthinking." I had to tell myself "duh" when I realized how simple and obvious the modification was that let me fine tune the panel launcher for my particular use case.
Thanks again for taking time to comment, and - again - for your work on this very capable and enjoyable distro.
Last edit: Iggy64 2024-02-04
Yeah @Iggy Cavy is right. when we first released xDaily the community members was saying that the panel was too much interaction. So in that case we fast tracked it. While in the hub it gets interactive, But all that said, I am really glad to see you got a setup that fits your needs. Super stoked to see your use cases. nice! ..... Thanks so much for being here your feedback is most welcome!
Thanks for your input, Peppermint OS! I certainly can understand the thinking that went into setting up the xDaily panel launcher in "automatic" mode. It's great that you responded to the community feedback and made the default behavior benefit the majority of users.
I regret that I published my initial confusion on this board before properly examining the code for xDaily. As noted earlier, I had read a couple of publications praising xDaily, and describing its interactive nature. No doubt they were referring to the Hub launcher. I wasn't thoughtful enough to consider that the panel launcher might have a slightly different configuration, and for good reason. Thanks to you and Cavy for clarifying .
Thanks, too, for all the thoughtful effort that goes into Peppermint OS. I have been using vanilla Devuan for quite some time, but find it a chore to set up and maintain, especially for other users I like to help. The Peppermint spin makes Devuan accessible to a broader range of users, and that is a wonderful thing. I had hoped that LMDE would one day flip to Devuan; but Peppermint is even closer to the traditional Linux concepts that I value so highly. Kudos for providing the Devuan spin. It no doubt creates significantly more work for you, but it is an important contribution to the spirit of Linux.