Conflicting information between NI Update Service and NI Package Manager

[jditte]

NI Update Service tells me that a critical update for LabVIEW 2017 SP1 is available (f3 Patch). NI Package Manager tells me that LabVIEW 17.1.55 is installed and up-to-date. Who is right? What patch level does LabVIEW 17.1.55 correspond to? Should what the older Update Service says be ignored, when the newer Package Manager claims that everything is up-to-date?

[Scott_Richardson]

jditte, I am assuming you are talking about the LabVIEW 2017 Runtime. I do not know what the 17.1.55 version corresponds to. Do you have an image of that in NI Package Manager? 

If that version existed, it might be that a corresponding feed version it was not created and only existed as a non-package installation product. NI likely only went back and created packages for the later versions of older LabVIEW runtimes.

There are two 32-bit feeds defined that NI Package Manager can be configured to view:

• https://download.ni.com/support/nipkg/products/ni-l/ni-labview-2017-runtime-engine-x86/17.5/released
  
  • Contains package versions 17.5.0 and 17.5.1
• https://download.ni.com/support/nipkg/products/ni-l/ni-labview-2017-runtime-engine-x86/17.6/released
  
  • Contains package versions 17.5.0, 17.5.1, 17.6.3 (SP1 f3), 17.6.4 (SP1 f4)

The 64-bit feed is similar but use the following URLs:

• https://download.ni.com/support/nipkg/products/ni-l/ni-labview-2017-runtime-engine/17.5/released
• https://download.ni.com/support/nipkg/products/ni-l/ni-labview-2017-runtime-engine/17.6/released

I am not sure if your NI Package Manager has any of these feeds registered. You can add the 17.6 feed and your system should start displaying these packages. This is what I see when I have no runtime installed and I could install any of the four listed below:

It is likely that NI created an Update Service notification for the f3 patch but not the f4 patch.

Hope this helps.

[jditte]

Hi Scott,

Thank you for your response. I was actually not referring to the runtime, but the LabVIEW 2017 SP1 (32-bit) Development System. This is the one that shows as 17.1.55 in Package Manager without any updates being available, and Update Service says that the f3 Patch is available as a critical update. I assume that 17.1.55 might correspond to the latest f4 Patch, and Update Service might not know about this patch and think for some reason that an older version of LabVIEW 2017 SP1 is still installed, but I haven't been able to confirm this in any way...

Best,

Jochen

[Scott_Richardson]

Joshen, got it. NI moved to fully using NI Package Manager in 2019, so LabVIEW 2017 Development System was released using NI's previous installer technology. Any patches for LabVIEW 2017 Development System will only be available using Update Service. As mentioned in my previous post NI did go back and create package, feeds, and installers for the LabVIEW 2017 runtime so that NI could include those runtimes in 2019 and later products that depend on them.

Since there are no feeds and packages for LabVIEW 2017 Development System that NI Package Manager can register, Package Manager has no way to notify users about such patches, but it does display what is installed.

• When you install the f3 or even the f4 patch for the LabVIEW 2017 Development System, the version that shows up in NIPM remains 17.1.55. That is likely because the patch does not alter LabVIEW.exe, but does alter other files, including the runtime.
• When you launch LabVIEW the about box does show 17.0.1f3 and 17.0.1f4 respectively.
• For the f3 and f4 patches, the LabVIEW 2017 runtime product display a version of 17.5.1 and 2017 SP1 f4 respectively in NIPM.

Hope that helps.

[jditte]

Thank you, Scott. That helps. The LabVIEW about box currently just says 17.0.1 without a patch level. I am bit surprised though that Update Service offers me the f3 patch rather than the f4 patch. Or is f3 a prerequisite for f4, and f4 will not be shown until f3 is installed?

Best,

Jochen

[Scott_Richardson]

Jochen, my understanding is that f3 is required for f4. I do not know the history behind and when f3 and f4 were released. It might be that the f3 patch was more critical than the f4 patch.

• The manual downloads for the f4 pathc: LabVIEW 2017 SP1 Patch
• The manual download for the LabVIEW 2017 SP1 Runtime includes the f4 fixes for it
• For more information on what is in f3 and f4, see LabVIEW 2017 SP1 Patch Details

[jditte]

Thanks again for all your help, Scott!

Best,

Jochen