[OpenAFS] problem upgrading windows openafs client 1.4.1->1.5.2

[T. Czerwonka]

Thanks for the reply; I've got it figured out enough to get the upgrades working.

We run a custom gina that uses some of the afs and kerberos libraries for authentication, etc.

Eventually I found that if you attempt the upgrade while using our custom gina, the upgrade fails.  If you attempt the upgrade while using msgina.dll, even with the REBOOT=Suppress, it succeeds.  So, it's something with our custom gina.  Just exactly what, I don't know.

But I'll be dipped if I'm going to visit all of the XP workstations for anything by hand, so I came up with another custom gina whos sole purpose in life is to upgrade the AFS client.  

The upgrade starts by copying the AFS MSI and transform to local disk and setting the new GINA to start on the next reboot.  Once the workstation reboots, the new gina (with no AFS/krb dependencies) updates AFS via the MSI, switches back to the new GINA and reboots.  

One of the benefits of doing it this way is that the upgrade can start anytime (e.g. nightly updates) and doesn't cause a reboot.  (other mechanisms annoy the user into rebooting and will just reboot anyway after they've had 24 hours notice)

Kinda gross, but it works.

Thanks again--
--Tim

On Fri, 10 Nov 2006 06:58:47 -0800
Jeffrey Altman <jaltman@secure-endpoints.com> wrote:

> Tim:
> 
> I believe the issue here is that fact that you are suppressing the
> required reboot after the upgrade.   Many of the AFS libraries are
> loaded by the Explorer shell and Winlogon.  As a result, they can't be
> replaced until a reboot occurs.
> 
> Jeffrey Altman
> 
> Tim Czerwonka wrote:
> > I'm trying to upgrade from OpenAFS 1.4.1 (installed via the MSI, not as
> > an upgrade) to OpenAFS 1.5.2 on a Windows XP SP2 workstation.  I'm not
> > having any luck; I'm wondering if anyone can point out what I'm missing here.
> > 

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