At 06:00 PM 2/12/2005, Bill Stoddard wrote:
Bill R correctly identified the reason I'd like to see the service install occur before post-config. If the last thing your installer does is install the service, the service install will fail if there is a problem with httpd.conf. The most likely problem is that some other service is using port 80 (or port 443, or whatever port you want httpd to listen on).
That and other issues. I have a couple theories on this...
* Solve the port 80 (443...) problem simply by testing those ports in real_features.dll, a stub which our .msi invokes to test other real-world issues, today. Add the choice of ports (default: 80) and run the user in a circle till they choose a valid port.
* If this is possible; Pipe the service install output to a log file. Present the user the results of that log file
upon exit. Hopefully, this provides some feedback of why
it did not install. [This is not as trivial in .msi as
it might sound.]
Sounds like complex solutions to a simple problem... Why not do this:
move the service install to pre_config (or rewrite_args). Then allow the service install step to proceed through post_config as it does today. If post_config fails, the service will still be installed but you will get a clear error message saying your service will not start until you resolve the issues with httpd.conf. I'll work up a patch.
Bill
