NIPM Ignore Built-In Feeds

[MatthewHarrison]

I have an offline network, but I would like to be able to host a private NIPM feed on that network to distribute a set of standard tools.  I can get the feed setup ok and after adding the feed to the client workstations, they seem to be working fine to install my hosted packages.  The problem is that opening the NI Package Manager GUI will always throw an error about failing to update all feeds, because it obviously cannot access the NI feeds hosted on the internet.  It seems that we are explicitly prohibited from removing those built-in feeds, but I just wanted to ask if there might be a way to disable them, or at least suppress this error message?

Also, is there a NIPM specific message board?  I couldn't find one, so I posted here, but if there is, please let me know.

[JKarma]

Hello MatthewHarrison,

How do you try to remove/add the feeds?

Can you share the error message?

[MatthewHarrison]

Sure, from the command-line:

C:\Users\matth>nipkg feed-remove ni-package-manager-released
Error -125069: The specified setting is not configurable (\\?\C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI Package Manager\Settings\ni-package-manager-released.ini)

In the GUI, the "edit" and "remove" buttons are disabled when you select that feed.

[MatthewHarrison]

Sorry, I realized after I posted my last message that you probably wanted to see the error when opening NIPM on an unconnected machine.

Basically, when you start up NIPM, a one-button dialog comes up with the text "Failed to update all feeds"  It then lists all the feeds that it failed to connect to, which if you are not online is typically all of the configured feeds.  You can easily reproduce this dialog just by disconnecting from the internet and opening NIPM.

-Matt

[GreyGrey]

We do have the ability to remove the feeds from NIPM but the way that this can be accomplished depends on what version of NIPM you are using.

What version of NIPM are you using? If you're not using the latest (18.5.1), is it possible for you to upgrade? It sounds like this may not be a possibility since you are not connected to the internet.

[MatthewHarrison]

I'm not in front of it right now, but I think it was 18.5 (It might be 18.5.1).  I can upgrade, but it is basically sneaker-net to get things on that machine.

[GreyGrey]

Unfortunately, at this time, there isn't a way that you can turn off checking for updates in the feeds that you have registered or disable the notifications when that check fails. However, even though through the GUI some feeds may not be able to be removed, those feeds are stored on disk. These feeds are stored in .ini files and can be removed, thus removing the error dialog that you keep getting greeted with. It is not recommended that you alter feeds by manipulating ini files unless you are on a machine that does not have internet access and will not ever need the feeds (since they cannot be connected to). There is not an easy way to get the feeds back once they've been deleted so proceed with caution.

NI Package Manager (18.5 and later) stores its feeds in a couple of different ini files, depending on how they were added. Feeds stored at in different locations also have a little bit different behaviors. Each ini file is a text file that can be opened to examine the feeds that are added by that file. I'll include the locations where the feeds are stored below and then go into the differences between them all. 

• Program Files - "C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI Package Manager\Settings\ni-package-manager-released.ini"
• ProgramData - "C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\NI Package Manager\Settings\nipkg.ini"
• LocalAppData"C:\Users\<Windows_User>\AppData\Local\National Instruments\NI Package Manager\nipkg.ini"

Program Files

This ini file stores the feeds used by NI Package Manager. This is the only feed that is stored in this directory. If you move/delete this ini file, the two default NI Package Manager feeds will be removed from NI Package Manager. The NI Package Manager feed cannot be removed through the GUI so this is the only way to remove it. 

ProgramData

This ini file stores all of the feeds that get added from NI Products or software downloaded from the NI Package Manager "Browse Products" tab. The feeds in this ini file can be removed through the GUI and I would recommend removing the feed through the GUI instead. However, moving/deleting this ini file will also remove all the feeds stored inside it. 

LocalAppData

This file stores any feed that has been manually registered by a user by interacting with the NIPM GUI. Like the ProgramData feeds, these too can be removed in the GUI and we recommend that method for getting rid of any feeds you don't want registered on your system. However, moving/deleting this ini file will also remove all the feeds stored inside it. 

For your particular problem, I don't have a screenshot, but the only feed that can't be removed through the GUI are the NIPM feeds stored in Program Files. If this is the case, you can remove the file I included above and that should resolve the errors that you are getting. Different versions of NIPM have behaved differently about removing feeds so if there are others that you need help with, please include a screenshot and the version of NIPM you are using.

[rdecarre11]

I have test stations in areas of very poor connectivity. NIPM takes "a very long time" to open and will fail feed updates. The errors are not that great of a concern for me, however; the load time is pretty egregious. 

Good network: Splash screen to UI is about 4-5 seconds and feeds updated in < 1 second thereafter

Poor Network: (1mbps up/down,  10% packet loss, 500ms RTT) splash to UI is 30 seconds. Icons a few seconds later, feeds not for many minutes, probably depending on the # of feeds.

I edited the timeout in C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI Package Manager\Settings\ni-package-manager-defaults.ini to be 1:
Good Network: No splash screen(?), 4 seconds to UI.

Poor Network: No splash screen(?), 14 seconds to UI. Feeds still minutes out.

Timeouts between >1 and 1000000 are about the same as above. The splash screen is kinda all over the map as for whether or not it will display.

[rdecarre11]

Removing the -released ini out of the Program Files also doesn't seem to change anything. I have a few other feeds registered, so that is probably the least of the feed-load.

I think my plan now is to nix all NI feeds and only have my internal feeds.

[rdecarre11]

I deleted the ProgramData file, but after I reopen NIPM (18.5.1) the file is replaced and all the feeds are there again. Opening the NIPM at this point took about 15 seconds even with good connection. Is there another way to remove feeds by editing files?

I would like to make a package that removes as many as possible so I can "disconnect" some of my test systems.