Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

[Bob Arnson]

dB. wrote:


I meant that a user on a 32-bit Windows should see the pre-requisites 
required for his 32-bit windows, and on 64-bit the ones that apply. 
You could generalize this to various operating systems -- lets say I 
have Vista that requires update KB12345, so the pre-requisites should 
list that (and not on my XP box). In addition, one very important and 
related feature is allowing some updates to be embedded and some 
downloaded (if most users on Vista usually have KB12345 I don't want 
to package it all the time) -- let them download it from Windows 
Update or My Product Website, whichever is available.




Got it. Should be doable, eventually via manifest.

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Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

[dB.]

I meant that a user on a 32-bit Windows should see the pre-requisites
required for his 32-bit windows, and on 64-bit the ones that apply. You
could generalize this to various operating systems - lets say I have
Vista that requires update KB12345, so the pre-requisites should list
that (and not on my XP box). In addition, one very important and related
feature is allowing some updates to be embedded and some downloaded (if
most users on Vista usually have KB12345 I don't want to package it all
the time) - let them download it from Windows Update or My Product
Website, whichever is available.

 

Thx

dB.

 

From: Bob Arnson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2008 2:23 PM
To: dB.
Cc: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost
there?

 

dB. wrote: 

1.   Support 64-bit or more generally OS-switching for
pre-requisites.


"OS-switching"? Not sure what that means.




Include allowing both embedded and downloadable components - package
.NET framework for 32bit for example as a more common scenario and offer
users to download the 64-bit one.

Merge all dependencies into a single .EXE.

Command line tools for building the bootstrapper.

Support for unattended installation.

Improve semantics of identifying what is a pre-requisite and what's the
application (multiple MSIs for example or upgrade scenarios).


Pretty much all on the list, exposed via manifest or extensions (e.g.,
depending on how complicated you need for #6).




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Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

[Bob Arnson]

dB. wrote:


1.   Support 64-bit or more generally OS-switching for pre-requisites.



"OS-switching"? Not sure what that means.

2.   Include allowing both embedded and downloadable components -- 
package .NET framework for 32bit for example as a more common scenario 
and offer users to download the 64-bit one.


3.   Merge all dependencies into a single .EXE.

4.   Command line tools for building the bootstrapper.

5.   Support for unattended installation.

6.   Improve semantics of identifying what is a pre-requisite and 
what's the application (multiple MSIs for example or upgrade scenarios).




Pretty much all on the list, exposed via manifest or extensions (e.g., 
depending on how complicated you need for #6).


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Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

[dB.]

Thanks Bob,

 

We're going to give a shot at
http://www.devage.com/Wiki/ViewArticle.aspx?name=dotnetinstaller&version
=0, it has most of the stuff I need. The few things it's missing (and
we're likely to implement, and you might want to hear about since you'll
be doing a more flexible bootstrapper one day) are:

 

1.   Support 64-bit or more generally OS-switching for
pre-requisites.

2.   Include allowing both embedded and downloadable components -
package .NET framework for 32bit for example as a more common scenario
and offer users to download the 64-bit one.

3.   Merge all dependencies into a single .EXE.

4.   Command line tools for building the bootstrapper.

5.   Support for unattended installation.

6.   Improve semantics of identifying what is a pre-requisite and
what's the application (multiple MSIs for example or upgrade scenarios).

 

Cheers

dB.

 

 

From: Bob Arnson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 11:26 AM
To: dB.
Cc: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost
there?

 

dB. wrote: 

I know there has been discussions on the wix lists about bootstrappers.
I couldn't find anything conclusive on that...


In the works, no estimates. The goal is to provide extensibility
points for just about everything, including UI, so you can easily swap
out with whatever look and feel you want.



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Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

[RAYMENT Tim]

We use CruiseControl.Net as our CI Server and author the build script in
MSBuild using the build tasks that ship with WiX to invoke candle and
light to create our msi and mst files.

We then copy these files and the Installshield bootstrapper files to a
common location.

We're building a disk image for a CD so we don't package as a single
exe.  Perhaps someone else can suggest how to bundle loose files into a
self extracting exe?

 

Kind regards,

 

Tim

 



From: dB. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: 08 April 2008 13:24
To: RAYMENT Tim
Subject: RE: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost
there?

 

Thanks Tim,

 

I'm going to check this out especially since we're migrating out of
InstallShield and have all the licenses and tools. Would you share some
more detail about the build process? How do you swap the MSI to package
this in a single executable?

 

Thx

dB.

 

From: RAYMENT Tim [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 6:09 AM
To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Cc: dB.
Subject: RE: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost
there?

 

Our solution is a hybrid between Installshield and WiX.  We create a
basic project in Installshield and specify all the prerequisites +
supported languages.  This gives us the bootstrapper plus an
Installshield msi & localized transform files (mst).

We replace these msi and mst files with the ones that our CI server
builds via WiX.

 

The bootstrapper part only needs updating occasionally so we're happy to
author it manually, whereas the WiX msi gets built automatically every
day.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tim

 



From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of dB.
Sent: 08 April 2008 00:32
To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

 

I've been playing with the Visual Studio bootstrapper and I am a little
closer to what I want, but I am very disappointed with the result. 

 

This thing produces something really not pretty, or should I say ugly. I
need to hold the user's hand through the deployment process and I also
need something that can run automated if I want it to. I need to be able
to put pretty pictures. It sounds stupid, but this looks totally
unprofessional. My model is the SQL 2005 installer, if you used its
technology you probably know that this is nothing like that. I also
looked at some commercial software, but none allow me to build a
bootstrapper without using them to build an MSI as well.

 

I know there has been discussions on the wix lists about bootstrappers.
I couldn't find anything conclusive on that...

 

Ideas?

 

Thx

dB.

 

 

-dB.

dblock.org <http://www.dblock.org/>  / foodcandy.com
<http://www.foodcandy.com/> 

 



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Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

[dB.]

Good. This is enough for me, thank you. It's saying that I shouldn't
invest into bootstrapper technology too heavily myself and take
acceptable vs. perfect solutions.

 

From: Bob Arnson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 11:26 AM
To: dB.
Cc: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost
there?

 

dB. wrote: 

I know there has been discussions on the wix lists about bootstrappers.
I couldn't find anything conclusive on that...


In the works, no estimates. The goal is to provide extensibility
points for just about everything, including UI, so you can easily swap
out with whatever look and feel you want.



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Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

[fgc]

Due to the lack of a better solution we currently use the VS2005 bootstrapper
together with our WiX projects. Basically we have one solution for every
installer. That solution has two projects:

1. A VS2005 deployment project that creates the bootstrapper.
2. A wixproj project that builds our WiX installer

In the deployment project we specify what shall be installed by the
bootstrapper. Because this project creates a msi file that we don't use we
build that project first. The msi file is then overwritten by the output of
the wixproj i.e. the productive msi. This all might seem a bit strange but
at least we are able to full automatically build the installer together with
the corresponding setup.exe.

Basically the VS2005 bootstrapper has two BIG downsides:

First: It assumes that you always want to deploy prerequisite msi in quiet
mode. You simply cannot change that. I have no clue why this flag has been
included by default and I think this is a very questionable design choice.
In general the bootstrapper is not customizable at all (no custom icon for
the setup.exe, etc.)
So far our prerequisite msi are wrapped by an exe file. This way they can be
installed with full UI instead of quiet.

Second: It does not accept all msiexec command line arguments as described
in
http://blogs.msdn.com/mwade/archive/2007/11/01/kicking-back-with-motley-crue-sippin-my-lowenbrau.aspx

What I actually like is the xml input. It is very easy to create custom
bootstrapper packages by defining two xml files.

I hope the Visual Studio bootstrapper is improved in the future. The
concepts behind it work, but it should be more customizable in case of the
UI / icon. And of course quiet mode shall not be default.

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Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

[Bob Arnson]

dB. wrote:


I know there has been discussions on the wix lists about 
bootstrappers. I couldn't find anything conclusive on that...




In the works, no estimates. The goal is to provide extensibility 
points for just about everything, including UI, so you can easily swap 
out with whatever look and feel you want.


--
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Re: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

[RAYMENT Tim]

Our solution is a hybrid between Installshield and WiX.  We create a
basic project in Installshield and specify all the prerequisites +
supported languages.  This gives us the bootstrapper plus an
Installshield msi & localized transform files (mst).

We replace these msi and mst files with the ones that our CI server
builds via WiX.

 

The bootstrapper part only needs updating occasionally so we're happy to
author it manually, whereas the WiX msi gets built automatically every
day.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tim

 



From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of dB.
Sent: 08 April 2008 00:32
To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: [WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

 

I've been playing with the Visual Studio bootstrapper and I am a little
closer to what I want, but I am very disappointed with the result. 

 

This thing produces something really not pretty, or should I say ugly. I
need to hold the user's hand through the deployment process and I also
need something that can run automated if I want it to. I need to be able
to put pretty pictures. It sounds stupid, but this looks totally
unprofessional. My model is the SQL 2005 installer, if you used its
technology you probably know that this is nothing like that. I also
looked at some commercial software, but none allow me to build a
bootstrapper without using them to build an MSI as well.

 

I know there has been discussions on the wix lists about bootstrappers.
I couldn't find anything conclusive on that...

 

Ideas?

 

Thx

dB.

 

 

-dB.

dblock.org <http://www.dblock.org/>  / foodcandy.com
<http://www.foodcandy.com/> 

 



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[WiX-users] The Visual Studio 2005 BootStrapper - almost there?

[dB.]

I've been playing with the Visual Studio bootstrapper and I am a little
closer to what I want, but I am very disappointed with the result. 

 

This thing produces something really not pretty, or should I say ugly. I
need to hold the user's hand through the deployment process and I also
need something that can run automated if I want it to. I need to be able
to put pretty pictures. It sounds stupid, but this looks totally
unprofessional. My model is the SQL 2005 installer, if you used its
technology you probably know that this is nothing like that. I also
looked at some commercial software, but none allow me to build a
bootstrapper without using them to build an MSI as well.

 

I know there has been discussions on the wix lists about bootstrappers.
I couldn't find anything conclusive on that...

 

Ideas?

 

Thx

dB.

 

 

-dB.

dblock.org   / foodcandy.com
 

 

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