Should swinstall & Ignite-UX tools be implemented w/Java?

[Judy Traynor]

Yes - I would like to see the java tools started.

We still need the command line swlist command set, or a way to script the commands to get the same data out, for CM software deliveriies and component identification of our development machines.

The performance issue is a problem, but (taking oracle as an example) they have gotten much better as the rev's have been rolled out.

Certainly, as the development effort begins, you should maintain, or develop in parallel the command line interfaces.

Also, include some of the advanced tuning tools, the latest java bundle, etc with the software.

Change always meets resistance, and looking back at oracles implementation of the java install gui, the first couple of releases really were bad, but now, it is workable, and pretty clean.

Good luck

[IMteam]

Patrick writes:

> Now all that being said, what is the motivation behind
> this survey? Is HP getting requests from customers to
> convert to Java for these tools? Is it a mandate within
> HP to do this? What is the rationale here?
>
> I personally do not see what doing this would accomplish,
> other than pissing off quite a few Sys Admins. As I said,
> I see nothing wrong with the X11/TUI/CLI that is currently
> available for these utilities.
>
> I am curious now -- Has this been asked of systems
> administrators anywhere besides this forum? If so, what
> was the response? I would be curious if it was the same as
> here (about 95% negative so far).

First, I want to express my sincere thanks to all of you
that have spent to time to give us your thoughts on this.
We realize that some of these topics have been discussed in
the past regarding the SAM changes to the kennel
configuration area (kcweb) and pdweb. See also the tread:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=48372

In addition to that information, we wanted to get some
opinions on the use of Java, and to confirm that much of the
feedback the SAM team received also apply to software
management tools.

So what is behind this you ask? Well, several things.

1) The current UI technology that SAM/SD/IUX, etc, have
been based on is being phased out, and the teams are
looking for alternates as they investigate updates to
these tools. SAM has blazed some paths with kcweb,
etc. The SMDteam wants to make sure those are the
right paths for software management before heading
down them.

2) The software management tools are working on some new
designs that will eventually bring many new
capabilities, and begin merging the SD/Ignite-UX
tools into a more powerful and seamless software
management suite. Given this, we need to implement
the GUI/TUI on top of this design - as such, we are
looking at UI alternatives.

3) We were initially attracted to Java for the features
of the language and the modern look and feel of the
GUI it produces. As we learned from customers that a
TUI was still essential, we researched technologies
such as "Charva", that would allow us to leverage the
Java GUI development work and come up with a TUI.
(Charva is a Java package that implements classes
that are signature compatible with swing, but render
a ASCII TUI. If interested see:
http://www.pitman.co.za/projects/charva)

4) After listening to customers like you, we are now
reconsidering our attraction to Java. It is also
clear to us (and SAM) that a TUI is a requirement.
Both teams now have TUI's in their long term plans.
(The SAM team plans to post something explaining
their direction in a future thread, so stay tuned).

Again, thanks for your time and thoughts, we really are
listening.

-- SMDTeam (David Arko)

[Patrick Wallek]

You wrote:
>>The current UI technology that SAM/SD/IUX, >>etc, have been based on is being phased >>out.......

Which UI technology is being phased out? X11? I don't see how that is possible.

Now I'm more confused that I usually am. ;)

[Victor_5]

Personally, I will say no to Java, unless you have necessary reason to support you that you have to do so.

1. The current swinstall and ignite are good enough, I don't see any reason to add java on.

2. In our environment, we have a lot of applications running on Java right now, it always give me trouble when work for those applications.

Plus, so many changes on java side, we may keep the patch team very busy.

[IMteam]

I wrote:
>> The current UI technology that SAM/SD/IUX, etc, have
>> been based on is being phased out...

Patrick asked:
> Which UI technology is being phased out? X11? I don't see
> how that is possible.

I definitely didn't mean X11. I can see how my statement was
confusing. I was referring to an internal library we refer
to as ObAM. ObAM, plus a 3rd party library underneath, is
what allowed us to render both a TUI and GUI from mostly the
same source code.