People who auto-login or never restart can be handled differently.
Personally, I auto-login, so I would not use this feature, but let's not
think of gurus like us, who participate on Linux mailing lists, and let's
think instead about the average user, who might be made uncomfortable by
computers in general, and may be nervous about their first venture into
Linux.
The core of the idea is, at the face browser, there is a present icon when
you have updates already downloaded and ready to install. They might even be
unpacked already. Beside the present is a simple description like "13
updates available, requires restart. Click to update." The user either logs
in as usual, ignoring the icon (maybe it's at the bottom/corner of GDM), or
clicks the present. Clicking the present prompts for a password, and then
shows an elegant progress bar, installing the updates. If the updates
required a restart, the machine simply restarts, and our new 10 second boot
time brings the machine back up before the user even notices it's
restarting. We don't have to confirm shutdown, because nobody is logged in.
Then, the user logs in to her newly updated desktop.
There are drawbacks to this approach, sure, but do you honestly not see any
merit? I think it delivers a much more pleasant experience than asking the
user at shutdown. At GDM, the user is not in a hurry, and they can take a
moment to decide if they would like to update or not. Asking the user to
update at shutdown feels like a rushed decision; the machine is shutting
down, and you have a brief moment to either opt-in or opt-out of updates.
David, don't think I want to discourage you in any way. I'm pretty
happy with initiatives like yours.
But, of course, one has to see which advantages those effectively bring.
Frankly, seems to me that the only merit you cite ('more pleasant
experience') is highly subjective as it is the consideration that at
login the user is less in hurry than on shutdown. The hurry factor, by
the way, varies depending on the platform (desktop/notebook/netbook).
I'd frankly consider a netbook/notebook user always in hurry, and that
brings down both the login/logout alternatives. For a desktop, though,
the shutdown is nicer.
Sure everything can be ignored, but that also means that such feature
would affect a lower percentage of users, making it less compelling.
I also think that doing things at start up will require much more code
respect of the shutdown option and increased complexity in the
configuration panels (see for example the proposed configuration panel
that will be needed for handling the pop-under intrusiveness
http://tinyurl.com/koommq . are we sure we need that?)
A few more points:
- auto-downloading the updates is already there, but it's optional and
opt-in - and for a reason. I couldn't afford to use that in my current
situation for example (pay for bandwith). Slow connections may not
afford it. And so on.
- I think that making the user wait for uploads to complete before
login will lead to quite of a backslash, no matter if it's opt-in.
You're proposing opt-in to an undesiderable feature. I still would
have no problem with that, but I'm sure many people would not like it.
- I have the feeling it will be more difficult to code and would
re-use much less of the existing infrastructure.
As a side note, I don't like having update opt-in even on shutdown,
but for sure I think it would be much better than in GDM and may be
helpful for some.
Let me iterate it again, I don't want to bash you or your idea. I just
think it's not good and I encourage you to find some other good point
about it or come out with something different.
Stefano