I also have the advantage (disadvantage?) of "scale" to "inform" my opinions. <smile/> I routinely have to deal with projects the size of Office, SQL Server and Visual Studio so there is plenty of opportunity for "cosmic rays" (Murphy's law?) to sneak in and blow the "quick but incomplete" (hack?) solutions out of the water. Failure for multi-billion dollar (no exaggeration) projects also isn't an option so I usually feel compelled to look for the complete solution.
I know it has frustrated people in the past that we don't just "make heat.exe work" but there are some tricky problems in there and, honestly, no one is working on them. I want to believe there is a good solution to the Component/@Guid problem out there... but I haven't seen it yet. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Minnis Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 17:49 To: 'General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset.' Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Merge Module Help That's an excellent point. The devil, as always, is in the details of when someone screws up. Since Murphy is looking out for us, it never manages to work ideally. :) -Jamey ____________________________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:wix-users- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rob Mensching > Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 1:15 PM > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Merge Module Help > > I think you've over-simplified the Component Rules. Once a Component > contains a set of Resources, those Resources must ship in that Component > with that GUID forever. Resources are files, registry keys, shortcuts, > etc. (basically almost everything that can be a child of the Component > element). > > The case that gets really tricky is to have one build where a Resource > disappears (usually accidentally) then the next build where the Resource > comes back. It needs to get the same Component and GUID. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:wix-users- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Minnis > Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 13:08 > To: 'General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset.' > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Merge Module Help > > I couldn't find a feature request for that with a couple of quick > searches, > but it is possible that I missed it. > > This is definitely not a trivial problem to solve, but I don't see why it > would be an intractable one. For a first pass, I'd generate a fragment > WXS > file where one element is a hash or CRC of the rest of the file. As long > as > the existing file generates the same hash/CRC, the file is unmodified and > you can safely import the existing autogenerated XML structures. You can > then do a diff with the existing file/folder structure and only modify > where > necessary. I'd make doing a merge with the existing file a new command > line > switch for Heat. > > Obviously, there are a lot of implementation details I'm sweeping under > the > rug, but conceptually I don't see why the problem is really hard, assuming > that the first pass can only work with unmodified output of the Harvester. > It wouldn't make everyone happy, but it is a method which most people > could > work with. > > -Jamey > ____________________________________________________________ > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:wix-users- > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rob Mensching > > Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 11:01 AM > > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Merge Module Help > > > > This is a constant feature request (I'm surprised there isn't a feature > > request already). Generating Component GUIDs that follow the Component > > Rules is an *extremely hard* problem to solve perfectly. The auto- > > generated Component GUIDs is pretty good (assuming it doesn't have any > > bugs) but has a number restrictions. Heat already supports those with > the > > "-ag" switch. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:wix-users- > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Minnis > > Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 09:15 > > To: 'General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset.' > > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Merge Module Help > > > > That's unfortunate. > > > > I could probably write something to keep the GUIDs standardized, but it > > would be more work than it's worth for a hobby project I'm doing in my > > spare > > time. > > > > Most of our updates will only involve changes to text files rather than > > adding or removing files. That implies a patch to me. If we have to > add > > or > > remove more than a small number of files, I guess we'll bite the bullet > > and > > do a major upgrade. It isn't ideal but it will work. > > > > I submitted a feature request (#2022259). Hopefully it will get some > > attention. > > > > -Jamey > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:wix-users- > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Luke Bakken > > > Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 8:09 AM > > > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > > > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Merge Module Help > > > > > > >> I'm surprised that Heat doesn't have the functionality of leaving > the > > > >> existing GUIDs in place. I just presumed I wasn't seeing how to do > > it. > > > > > > > > There was (is?) a project called "Paraffin" (http://xrl.us/mnhwj) > for > > > > managing GUIDs. I've never used it so I can't vouch for it, but it > may > > > > be what you're looking for. > > > > > > > > > > Hm. On re-reading that article it appears that Paraffin doesn't > > > actually manage your GUIDs. You could accomplish something custom for > > > your app using heat.exe and a database of some sort. It's definitely a > > > missing part of the toolset. > > > > > > Where I work, teams that deal with large numbers of components just do > > > major upgrades all the time. We figured that we would cross the GUID > > > bridge when we had to for patches. > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > > - > > > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's > > > challenge > > > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great > > > prizes > > > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the > > > world > > > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > > > _______________________________________________ > > > WiX-users mailing list > > > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > - > > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's > > challenge > > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great > > prizes > > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the > > world > > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > > _______________________________________________ > > WiX-users mailing list > > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > - > > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's > > challenge > > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great > > prizes > > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the > > world > > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > > _______________________________________________ > > WiX-users mailing list > > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's > challenge > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great > prizes > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the > world > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's > challenge > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great > prizes > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the > world > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
