headlamp-plugin: Make update check asynchronous

[skoeva]

This change makes the update check for headlamp-plugin asynchronous to avoid slowing down and blocking the user on start.

Fixes: #1899

[joaquimrocha]

Besides the comments about the logic. I think this PR is doing 2 things: replacing the function that checks for the latest pkg version + limiting the checks.

[illume]

From this comment in the issue: #1899 (comment)

It could be made async, so it doesn't block the user getting work done.

If the check is done async, then it can show the message some moments later. This avoids having state, and has the benefit that it isn't slow once a day. The user is never slowed down in their work.

Currently doing npm start with this branch will do the check in an async fashion never block the user. So I think all of the last check stuff is not necessary.

The main goal of not blocking the user is achieved with the code:

  informIfOutdated().catch(error => {
    console.error('Failed to check for updates:', error);
  });

So please keep that informIfOutdated() call, and remove all the lastCheckTime code and the force-check code.

[illume]

Hi,

when testing I noticed when using the execSync the user is blocked waiting still for the dependency update check.

So, for your consideration I pushed a fix up commit with some changes and console.debug lines in there so you can see the execution. Because execSync runs synchronously, these changes were needed. Please have a look, and squash the changes into your commit how you like without the console.debug lines if you think this is ok?

How to test, step 1

cd plugins/headlamp-plugin
npm run build && npm pack

cd ../examples/pod-counter
npm i ../../headlamp-plugin/kinvolk-headlamp-plugin-0.9.1.tgz
npm start

In this screen shot we see that the plugin builds right away. The user does not wait for the outdate check to start or finish.

testing step 2

Now check it's showing the outdated message:

• edit package.json and change the
• npm start
• it should show that the package is outdated

  "devDependencies": {
    "@kinvolk/headlamp-plugin": "^0.9.0"
  }

In this screen short, we see the user does not need to wait for the dependency check to start or finish. It also shows the message to the user that their package is outdated.

Notes:

The setTimeout starts 500ms later, so webpack has some time to begin and get some work done. Because that has priority over the dependency outdated check.

The console.debug lines should be removed, but they are useful to test.

[skoeva]

@illume I see, thanks for the fix! I think this makes sense since I noticed issues with performing the getNpmOutdated() code async, I can remove the debug lines and squash this now