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I was surprised to see that Google's automatic-update system for Linux is to just hook into the native packaging system (for Ubuntu/Debian this is APT, it sound

I was surprised to see that Google's automatic-update system for Linux is to just hook into the native packaging system (for Ubuntu/Debian this is APT, it sounds like they're planning Yum integration for Fedora, etc.) I'm not sure whether to be annoyed that their installer messes with my system configuration, or to applaud them for not re-inventing the auto-update wheel yet again. I suppose the advantage of Firefox's update mechanism is that the browser can present nice 'please shutdown now' dialogs; on the other hand, Ubuntu already refuses to upgrade Firefox while there's a firefox process running, so maybe this is a net win after all.

agl 17y ago
Chrome should soon be able to update without going horribly wrong. (This is more difficult than you probably suspect since we exec new processes for new tabs much of the time). We certainly don't want to reinvent auto-updating when we don't need to. Sticking a new apt source into your system config is a /little/ freakly, but not nearly as bad as assuming that user processes are going to update system binaries.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- grandalf 17y ago
  sounds like you're working on Chrome -- it's awesome! Great job.
igorgue 17y ago
Actually Ubuntu (9.04) doesn't ask you to close firefox, it does "after the install" not before.
- krakensden 17y ago
  Of course, if you don't Firefox will generally start behaving in strange and disturbing ways...
WalterGR 17y ago
> I'm not sure whether to be annoyed that their installer messes with my system configuration... Could you add more details / post a link before I try installing? I didn't see anything in the release notes, etc. Thanks.
- nuclear_eclipse 17y ago
  It adds an Apt repository to your system in order to keep Chrome up to date, and adds a launcher to /usr/share/applications. Those are the only modifications; even Chrome itself is self-contained within /opt/google.

agl 17y ago

Chrome should soon be able to update without going horribly wrong. (This is more difficult than you probably suspect since we exec new processes for new tabs much of the time). We certainly don't want to reinvent auto-updating when we don't need to. Sticking a new apt source into your system config is a /little/ freakly, but not nearly as bad as assuming that user processes are going to update system binaries.

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
grandalf 17y ago
sounds like you're working on Chrome -- it's awesome! Great job.

igorgue 17y ago

Actually Ubuntu (9.04) doesn't ask you to close firefox, it does "after the install" not before.

krakensden 17y ago
Of course, if you don't Firefox will generally start behaving in strange and disturbing ways...

WalterGR 17y ago

> I'm not sure whether to be annoyed that their installer messes with my system configuration... Could you add more details / post a link before I try installing? I didn't see anything in the release notes, etc. Thanks.

nuclear_eclipse 17y ago
It adds an Apt repository to your system in order to keep Chrome up to date, and adds a launcher to /usr/share/applications. Those are the only modifications; even Chrome itself is self-contained within /opt/google.