Files bundled in patch

[Sandhya M]

Hi,

I have a product in which contains various types of files like - .exe, .dll,
..jar, html, txt etc. Most of the files are not versioned. I want to generate
a patch for this product. The reference and target binaries will always have
a different time stamp, because target binaries are always rebuilt. Due to
this the files which have not changed in content are also getting bundled in
the patch. How can I make sure only the files which have changed are bundled
in the patch ?

Regards,
Sandhya

 

[Guest]

Hi Sandhya

Is there a reson you're not using file versioning? You'll really struggle
with Windows Installer if the developers of your app aren't going to use it...

...as a half way fix, try using Companion files to make use the files that
are versioned. Then we you need to update things, just make sure that file
has been incremented.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa367997.aspx

Hope this helps,
James
http://dotmsi.com

 

[Sandhya M]

Hi James,

Thanks for the reply.

Since Java based and html based applications are being put together
versioning has not been
used. But file hashtable entry is updated for all the files. Is there a way
this can be made use of
for identifying the changes ? Does the hashtable entry change if the time
stamp changes ?

Regards,
Sandhya

 

[Phil Wilson]

Yes, the hashtable entries will change if the content of the file changes.
The modify and creation timestamps of the files are not used because they
get reset when the files are installed on a system, so if the modify
timestamp is later found to be different from the creation timestamp Wimdows
assumes that the data file has been changed by the user and it will not be
replaced by an update.

 

[Dennis Bareis]

Hi,

Does the hashtable entry change if the time
stamp changes ?

No the MD5 hash is on the file contents only. Easy enough to test in any case...

Bye,
Dennis
Dennis Bareis [Microsoft MVP] ([email protected])
http://dennisbareis.com/
Freeware Windows Installer creation tool (+ "ORCA automation"):
http://makemsi.dennisbareis.com/

 

[Adrian Accinelli]

Hi,

I have a product in which contains various types of files like - .exe,
.dll, .jar, html, txt etc. Most of the files are not versioned. I want to
generate a patch for this product. The reference and target binaries will
always have a different time stamp, because target binaries are always
rebuilt. Due to this the files which have not changed in content are also
getting bundled in the patch. How can I make sure only the files which
have changed are bundled in the patch ?

Regards,
Sandhya

In the MSI administrative image folder specified by your PCP's
UpgradedImages table delete all the files that you do not want to be
included in the patch. This will ensure that the patch only consists of the
files that you actually want to distribute -- basically only those files
that remain.

Alternatively populate the UpgradedFilesToIgnore table in the PCP file.
This will skip the files listed so they are not included in the resulting
MSP. In this case you do not need to touch your administrative image.

P.S> No need to multi-post across these MSI groups. Most people who read
one look at the other two as well.

Sincerely,
Adrian Accinelli