Re: [WiX-users] Patching strategy
We've decided to go with the approach you've suggested, and I will look into delta patches to reduce the patch size (although since most of our changed files will be videos, I would guess deltas wouldn't help much). As far as each patch superseding the last, is this something we need to specify in the xml or is it just based on the "base" MSI we use when building the patch transform (i.e., version 5.0.2 would supersede version 5.0.1 just because we built 5.0.2 as a diff from 5.0; or we need to specifically say that 5.0.2 superseded 5.0.1)? As far as chaining patches together, we are having a small issue (or maybe it's working as designed). We have version 5.0 of a bundle with three MSIs installed initially. We are trying to release version 5.0.1 which consists of two MSPs. After installing, we see version 5.0.1 of the patch in the Installed Updates control panel, but in the Programs and Features control panel (uninstall a program) we see version 5.0. Is this by design? When doing testing of the MSIs and MSPs (installing them directly as opposed to bundling them), I see what I would expect - in both control panels version 5.0.1 is displayed, and when the 5.0.1 update is removed, the Programs and Features control panel goes back to showing 5.0. -- View this message in context: http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Patching-strategy-tp7591585p7591676.html Sent from the wix-users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. -- CenturyLink Cloud: The Leader in Enterprise Cloud Services. Learn Why More Businesses Are Choosing CenturyLink Cloud For Critical Workloads, Development Environments & Everything In Between. Get a Quote or Start a Free Trial Today. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=119420431&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk ___ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
Re: [WiX-users] Patching strategy
The flip side of this would be incremental patching. Release a RTM version and then all servicing from there would be handled as a patch. The down side is the patches being cached over time would bloat the local system, so you'd want to consider doing a major upgrade every so often to clean out all of the patches. I'm in process of getting self-updating bundles in 3.9 and I have a pull request for the core changes in place. If accepted, I intend on doing another pull request for WixStdBA to be able to self-update. Note, I just completed the changes that were fleshed out but incomplete. My implementation relies on the Update element pointing to an Atom feed containing a list of possible updates for the application. It's left up to the BA to process each update and decide if the update is applicable or not. -Original Message- From: Phil Wilson [mailto:phildgwil...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 3:46 PM To: General discussion about the WiX toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Patching strategy If you create whole file patches then you might get that size issue, but patches can be smaller, the delta between the files. I don't know if Burn can do that, but the question is: how does the customer know when to run it? It's not too difficult for the app to call a company web service passing the ProductCodes and ProductVersions of what's installed and having it tell you if there are updates to download, but it does take that infrastructure work. Phil Wilson On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 9:03 AM, KG wrote: > This sounds like a good way to start at least. My one concern is what > happens when the accumulated patches start to get large enough to make > size a concern? Lets say the original data is 2GB, and every month we > need to release a patch that changes 5% of it. After 5 months we're > up to a 500MB accumulated patch. > > Would it be possible to release a small burn bootstrapper that detects > which patches are installed and only downloads the ones that the user > doesn't already have? > > Thanks! > > > > -- > View this message in context: > http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Patching > -strategy-tp7591585p7591600.html Sent from the wix-users mailing list > archive at Nabble.com. > > > -- > Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your > business. Most IT organizations don't have a clear picture of how > application performance affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you > get 100% visibility into your Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your > 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics Pro! > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349831&iu=/4140/ostg.c > lktrk ___ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > -- Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics Pro! http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk ___ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users -- Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics Pro! http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk ___ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
Re: [WiX-users] Patching strategy
If you create whole file patches then you might get that size issue, but patches can be smaller, the delta between the files. I don't know if Burn can do that, but the question is: how does the customer know when to run it? It's not too difficult for the app to call a company web service passing the ProductCodes and ProductVersions of what's installed and having it tell you if there are updates to download, but it does take that infrastructure work. Phil Wilson On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 9:03 AM, KG wrote: > This sounds like a good way to start at least. My one concern is what > happens when the accumulated patches start to get large enough to make size > a concern? Lets say the original data is 2GB, and every month we need to > release a patch that changes 5% of it. After 5 months we're up to a 500MB > accumulated patch. > > Would it be possible to release a small burn bootstrapper that detects > which > patches are installed and only downloads the ones that the user doesn't > already have? > > Thanks! > > > > -- > View this message in context: > http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Patching-strategy-tp7591585p7591600.html > Sent from the wix-users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > > -- > Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT > organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance > affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your > Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics > Pro! > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > ___ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > -- Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics Pro! http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk ___ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
Re: [WiX-users] Patching strategy
This sounds like a good way to start at least. My one concern is what happens when the accumulated patches start to get large enough to make size a concern? Lets say the original data is 2GB, and every month we need to release a patch that changes 5% of it. After 5 months we're up to a 500MB accumulated patch. Would it be possible to release a small burn bootstrapper that detects which patches are installed and only downloads the ones that the user doesn't already have? Thanks! -- View this message in context: http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Patching-strategy-tp7591585p7591600.html Sent from the wix-users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. -- Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics Pro! http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk ___ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
Re: [WiX-users] Patching strategy
The simplest strategy for maintenance per MSI is to build a single accumulating patch that includes and supersedes previous patches. You build an updated MSI to create the patch, and the patch is therefore the changes between the original shipped MSI and the new MSI. Then you have a max of three patches for your three MSIs at any point in time. New customers (and that includes existing customers of the old product) should get something that will major upgrade the old MSIs. This is not likely to be the same MSI that you use to build the patches with because: 1 Patches shouldn't do a major upgrade, which they would if you built the patch as a diff between the original MSI and the major upgrade for new customers. 2. Your app (and maybe some new data) may have new features that you want to ship only to new customers. That means that you'll be building maintenance-only MSIs to ship patches and new product MSIs with new customers. That seems to be typical and effective practice in my experience. Phil Wilson On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 10:23 PM, KG wrote: > I am implementing a new installer for a product that needs to include > several > GB of data. I'm planning on having a single MSI for the application, > several > MSIs for the data, and using burn to chain everything together. > > The data will change periodically and updates will be delivered online, so > patching is a must. I've never had to implement patches in a user facing > product before, and am confused about the following: > > The first installer will obviously be very large (as all of the data must > be > included). Once we start releasing updates, do we release a "full" update > with all of the data for new users alongside a patch update for existing > users? Is there a way to just release the patches and have the bootstrapper > download the initial msi if it's being installed by a new user? Or do we > always download the initial data msi to keep the user experience consistent > (ie, the first installer would be very small, but download the full data)? > > Any advice would be greatly appreciated! > > > > -- > View this message in context: > http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Patching-strategy-tp7591585.html > Sent from the wix-users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > > -- > Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT > organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance > affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your > Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics > Pro! > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > ___ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > -- Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics Pro! http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk ___ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
