Patch creation - Newbie question
I am using Wise Installer version 7 SP1 and want to start generating patches (msp) using the patch wizard.
I generate a source msi and a target (patched) msi and then use the wizard to generate the msp.
My question relates to how the system determines what has changed between the msi's.
For example, I modified a versioned executable image but did not modify the associated version number. When I tried to generate the patch the wizard told me that there were no differences between the msi files. I suspect that all of this depends on the behavior of the underlying Microsoft tools but I'm a newbie here and do not know where to look?
Question: For versioned files, will the patch wizard only pick up files where the version number has changed?
Question: For non-versioned files, does the patch wizard include any changes?
Comments
Find the SDK help file MSI.CHM installed by Wise
The help file MSI.CHM will give you the full rundown on how file versioning works in the windows installer environment.
As you remark, however, the patch creation process relies on Microsoft DLL's, and you can find the latest versions and associated documentation in the Windows Installer SDK, downloadable as part of the platform SDK from Microsoft.
However, if you want your patches to work, you MUST change the file version of any file whose content is changed - otherwise the file will be considered unchanged.
Where files don't have internal version information,then a file hash is calculated for the file (MSIFileHash table) and windows installer then recognises a file has changed by it having a different file hash, and also a different create date/time.
If your issue has been solved, please use the "Mark as Solution" link on the most relevant thread.
Would you like to reply?
Login or Register to post your comment.