Package descriptions

[EricLM]

I have a couple package updates that are available to me in NIPM, including FlexRIO 18.7.1. I am using FlexRIO products, so this is likely important to me, but my customers are very sensitive to driver upgrades breaking things that are working. There is no information that I can find in NIPM, NI Update Service, or on ni.com that describes this update. This makes me very skeptical about installing this update.

Getting to the more NIPM specific issue here: Where is the package description? I'm not talking about the 50k ft view that you get when hovering over the package. Where is the specific information describing the fixes and known issues for a package? Where is the link to the even more detailed readme that is included with every other NI installer or download page on ni.com?

This is a serious shortcoming that needs to be addressed before this tool can be trusted for installing software for discerning customers and government contractors. Even the very dated NI Update Service provides good information about what is going to be installed and provides a link to more information. It appears that now that I have upgraded to LV 2018 SP1 this is the tool for installing future updates to LV and to drivers. Lack of information (especially when a package doesn't even appear on ni.com) makes me very reticent to use this tool, which is concerning when I may need some of the updates.

If I am missing something obvious here (I hope I am), please let me know. If not, I hope this is something that can be remedied in the near future.

Thanks

Eric

[APena]

Hi Eric,

You are correct that the release notes for a specific package is not currently visible in the Updates tab of NIPM. At this point, the easiest way to access the link to the readme is in the Details tab of the product's page in the Browse Product tab. For example:

Admittedly, it would be more ideal if this information was surfaced in close proximity to the update itself. What other information would you find useful to surface alongside the updates themselves?

Thanks.

Aaron Peña

Product Owner, Package and License Management

[EricLM]

Hi Aaron,

That is useful, but in my case it only shows the link for FlexRIO 19.0, not the version available in updates, 18.7.1. Normally, I would fall back to a Google and/or ni.com search to find info on this specific release, but those routes did not turn anything up for 18.7.1, so the details are still unknown.

It would be great to be able to drill in (double click, right click, whatever) to any package anywhere in NIPM and be able to see the view in your screenshot.

I would prefer to have the information available in the link actually reflected right in the Details tab instead of having to follow a link.

For update packages it would also be nice to see the criticality as well.

Thanks

Eric

[SteenSchmidt]

I will add that I can't find anywhere "Description" from a LabVIEW build spec's package attributes is displayed. Where does this info show up in NIPM?:

[APena]

Hi SteenSchmidt,

Currently the package description is displayed in a tooltip when you hover over the package. For example:

Thanks.

Aaron Peña

Product Owner, Package and License Management

[Olivier-JOURDAN]

Hi there,

I have the same question about release notes...

I can't find where or when it's displayed by NIPM.

[CL_eisenwr]

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@Olivier-JOURDAN wrote:

Hi there,

I have the same question about release notes...

I can't find where or when it's displayed by NIPM.

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The release notes are not shown yet in the GUI. You can use the NIPKG Command Line Interface or the NIPM API to retrieve the release notes. The command is nipkg.exe info package-name or nipkg.exe info-installed package-name for an installed package

[Olivier-JOURDAN]

Thank you for your reply and the command.

That said, I found that it should be shown to the user (in the GUI). How you can decide to update or not without this kind of information 🤔