I am new to Bigfix, but having worked for years with the Radia Client Automation tool, it appears Bigfix is missing functionality for warning a logged-on user that a restart is required only when/if a restart is indeed required. With Bigfix it appears you must beforehand decide to enforce a reboot (even if it might not be required), or let the machine enter into a Restart Pending state without functionality for displaying a dialog informing the user that a reboot became necessary as a result of the install action.
In comparison, Radia interrogates all install action return codes, and if an install action for instance returns with 3010, a logged-on user will be warned that a reboot is required. If none of the install actions require a reboot, the user is of course not warned. Surely this must also be possible with Bigfix?
Instead of selecting the Post-Action to restart the endpoint on your actions, an alternative approach would be to execute them with default parameters and, after completion, you create a new action using one of the “Restart Needed” fixlets, which are relevant only if the OS really expects the machine to be rebooted, and select the Post-Action option to reboot after completion.
You can fire this additional action manually or include it as the last step in a baseline.
I have finally got around to doing some checking and testing on what you suggested.
I created a baseline containing a patch that I know requires restart. I then also added to this baseline a fixlet with a relevance clause equal “pending restart” and an action script that only contains the “restart” statement. When I deploy this baseline WITHOUT a “Post-Action” saying the computer should be restarted, the restart dialog is displayed. This is what I wanted. I suppose one might also achieve the same by using a baseline “Post-Execution Action Script” that tests for “pending restart” and if true executes “restart”.
Is the above along the lines of what you had in mind?