win: do not use Boxstarter to install tools #24677

joaocgreis · 2018-11-27T18:28:40Z

The script to install Python and Visual Studio on Windows uses Boxstarter to reboot the machine whenever a reboot is pending and disable some Windows features that can make the installation fail. This has been causing issues for some users, leaving the machine in an unexpected state when the installation is cancelled.

This PR removes Boxstarter, changing the script to use Chocolatey directly, thus not changing machine configuration. This makes it possible for the installation to fail because of interference from updates or previous installations, but I could not make this happen in my tests with the packages installed here. Hence, I believe this is a good trade-off to fix the issues that have been happening.

Fixes: #23838
Refs: #24637

cc @nodejs/platform-windows @gep13

Checklist

make -j4 test (UNIX), or vcbuild test (Windows) passes
commit message follows commit guidelines

Use Chocolatey directly in the tools installation script. Fixes: nodejs#23838

nodejs-github-bot · 2018-11-27T18:28:43Z

@joaocgreis sadly an error occured when I tried to trigger a build :(

gep13 · 2018-11-28T07:42:29Z

tools/msvs/install_tools/install_tools.bat

 echo.
-echo Please close all open programs for the duration of the installation.


Is there a reason that this part has been removed? I think this advice is still valid.

Do you really close any program to install a software on Windows? I for one never do, and I haven't seen anyone do that...

While in most case there are no issues, this is always good advice to make sure there is no interference. I'll add it back.

@aduh95 One of the issues we had raised several times on the Boxstarter repo is that users do not know that Boxstarter will be rebooting their machines and they lose their work.

gep13 · 2018-11-28T07:43:34Z

tools/msvs/install_tools/install_tools.bat

 echo.
-echo Please close all open programs for the duration of the installation.
+echo If the installation fails, please ensure Windows is fully updated and reboot
+echo your computer before trying again.


Can we clarify exactly what this means? Does this mean trigger the entire msi installation again? Can they get back to the prompt to select the Chocolatey installation? Or is this referring to manually triggering this .bat file?

gep13 · 2018-11-28T07:45:11Z

tools/msvs/install_tools/install_tools.bat

@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ echo result of a Chocolatey install. This acceptance occurs whether you know the
 echo license terms or not. Read and understand the license terms of the packages
 echo being installed and their dependencies prior to installation:
 echo - https://chocolatey.org/packages/chocolatey
-echo - https://chocolatey.org/packages/boxstarter
 echo - https://chocolatey.org/packages/python2
 echo - https://chocolatey.org/packages/visualstudio2017buildtools


Based on the Chocolatey packages being installed, this one is no longer being directly installed, so I am assuming that it is coming in as a dependency. Since you are not listing all the dependent packages, I don't think it is right to explicitly call this one out.

gep13 · 2018-11-28T07:48:52Z

@joaocgreis said...
his makes it possible for the installation to fail because of interference from updates or previous installations, but I could not make this happen in my tests with the packages installed here.

Can you elaborate on the tests that you did here?

Based on the installation test that I did here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwFpXXIJTvs&t=117s

At least one reboot was required, which if not done, would likely have failed the subsequent package installation.

joaocgreis · 2018-11-28T19:45:25Z

@gep13 thanks for your review, updated.

Can you elaborate on the tests that you did here?

I tested this on Windows 2008, 2012, 2016 and 10. I tested this on Windows 10 while system updates were installing. The installation always completed successfully.

It is possible that there is some software or some state a machine can be in that will make this fail in a way that Boxstarter would have prevented, that's why I used it before. What I see here is that the installations always succeed, but leave the machine with a reboot pending. Chocolatey already displays a clear warning in this case when it completes.

joaocgreis · 2018-11-28T19:59:53Z

CI: https://ci.nodejs.org/view/All/job/node-test-pull-request/19008/ ✔️
Test build: https://nodejs.org/download/test/v12.0.0-test2018112811758825bb/

gep13 · 2018-11-29T20:03:41Z

@joaocgreis said...
I tested this on Windows 2008, 2012, 2016 and 10.

Sounds good!

The potential for problems likely comes machines that don't have the Windows Updates installed. I am going to guess that all the machines that you tested on were reasonably new VM's that had Windows Updates installed recently. As a result, the Windows Updates that are dependent packages didn't actually do anything, as they were not required. This is an area where we might still see some reports, but hopefully fewer.

Trott · 2018-12-01T05:03:31Z

One more review on this would be good. @nodejs/platform-windows was already pinged, but I guess since this is pretty text-heavy and the text is, in a sense, documentation, /ping @nodejs/documentation

joaocgreis · 2018-12-05T21:07:28Z

Thanks for the reviews!

Landed in 76afdff.

Use Chocolatey directly in the tools installation script. PR-URL: #24677 Fixes: #23838 Reviewed-By: Bartosz Sosnowski <[email protected]> Reviewed-By: Richard Lau <[email protected]>

Notable Changes: * console,util: * `console` functions now handle symbols as defined in the spec. #23708 * The inspection `depth` default is now back at 2. #24326 * dgram,net: * Added ipv6Only option for `net` and `dgram`. #23798 * http: * Chosing between the http parser is now possible per runtime flag. #24739 * readline: * The `readline` module now supports async iterators. #23916 * repl: * The multiline history feature is removed. #24804 * tls: * Added min/max protocol version options. #24405 * The X.509 public key info now includes the RSA bit size and the elliptic curve. #24358 * url: * `pathToFileURL()` now supports LF, CR and TAB. #23720 * Windows: * Tools are not installed using Boxstarter anymore. #24677 * The install-tools scripts or now included in the dist. #24233 * Added new collaborator: * [antsmartian](https://github.com/antsmartian) - Anto Aravinth. #24655 PR-URL: #24854

Use Chocolatey directly in the tools installation script. PR-URL: #24677 Fixes: #23838 Reviewed-By: Bartosz Sosnowski <[email protected]> Reviewed-By: Richard Lau <[email protected]>

Notable Changes: * console,util: * `console` functions now handle symbols as defined in the spec. #23708 * The inspection `depth` default is now back at 2. #24326 * dgram,net: * Added ipv6Only option for `net` and `dgram`. #23798 * http: * Chosing between the http parser is now possible per runtime flag. #24739 * readline: * The `readline` module now supports async iterators. #23916 * repl: * The multiline history feature is removed. #24804 * tls: * Added min/max protocol version options. #24405 * The X.509 public key info now includes the RSA bit size and the elliptic curve. #24358 * url: * `pathToFileURL()` now supports LF, CR and TAB. #23720 * Windows: * Tools are not installed using Boxstarter anymore. #24677 * The install-tools scripts or now included in the dist. #24233 * Added new collaborator: * [antsmartian](https://github.com/antsmartian) - Anto Aravinth. #24655 PR-URL: #24854

Use Chocolatey directly in the tools installation script. PR-URL: nodejs#24677 Fixes: nodejs#23838 Reviewed-By: Bartosz Sosnowski <[email protected]> Reviewed-By: Richard Lau <[email protected]>

Notable Changes: * console,util: * `console` functions now handle symbols as defined in the spec. nodejs#23708 * The inspection `depth` default is now back at 2. nodejs#24326 * dgram,net: * Added ipv6Only option for `net` and `dgram`. nodejs#23798 * http: * Chosing between the http parser is now possible per runtime flag. nodejs#24739 * readline: * The `readline` module now supports async iterators. nodejs#23916 * repl: * The multiline history feature is removed. nodejs#24804 * tls: * Added min/max protocol version options. nodejs#24405 * The X.509 public key info now includes the RSA bit size and the elliptic curve. nodejs#24358 * url: * `pathToFileURL()` now supports LF, CR and TAB. nodejs#23720 * Windows: * Tools are not installed using Boxstarter anymore. nodejs#24677 * The install-tools scripts or now included in the dist. nodejs#24233 * Added new collaborator: * [antsmartian](https://github.com/antsmartian) - Anto Aravinth. nodejs#24655 PR-URL: nodejs#24854

win: do not use Boxstarter to install tools

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Use Chocolatey directly in the tools installation script. Fixes: nodejs#23838

joaocgreis added windows Issues and PRs related to the Windows platform. install Issues and PRs related to the installers. tools Issues and PRs related to the tools directory. dont-land-on-v6.x labels Nov 27, 2018

refack mentioned this pull request Nov 27, 2018

Does not complete installation felixrieseberg/windows-build-tools#150

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bzoz approved these changes Nov 27, 2018

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gep13 suggested changes Nov 28, 2018

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This was referenced Nov 28, 2018

Could not install Visual Studio Build Tools felixrieseberg/windows-build-tools#152

Open

Consider directing >=10.13.0 users to built-in script felixrieseberg/windows-build-tools#159

Open

joaocgreis added 2 commits November 28, 2018 19:36

fixup: gep13 review

0103c4e

fixup set title

1175882

gep13 approved these changes Nov 29, 2018

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richardlau approved these changes Dec 1, 2018

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joaocgreis mentioned this pull request Dec 4, 2018

Node v11.0 windows installation opting into chocolatey+boxstarter results in infinite reboots #23838

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joaocgreis closed this Dec 5, 2018

joaocgreis mentioned this pull request Dec 5, 2018

v11.4.0 proposal #24854

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Trott added the notable-change PRs with changes that should be highlighted in changelogs. label Dec 6, 2018

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win: do not use Boxstarter to install tools #24677

win: do not use Boxstarter to install tools #24677

joaocgreis commented Nov 27, 2018

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gep13 Nov 28, 2018

aduh95 Nov 28, 2018

joaocgreis Nov 28, 2018

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joaocgreis commented Nov 28, 2018 •

edited by Trott

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gep13 commented Nov 29, 2018

Trott commented Dec 1, 2018

joaocgreis commented Dec 5, 2018

		echo.
		echo Please close all open programs for the duration of the installation.

win: do not use Boxstarter to install tools #24677

win: do not use Boxstarter to install tools #24677

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