Calling Install Experts ..

[NewsArchive]

Well it happened to me for the second time ....
After installing Capesofts KeepingTabs I LOST my path - actually it just
changed to C:\CLARION6\3rdParty\Bin ....
This happened with an install from another 3rd party developer a couple of
weeks also.

So there are probably 3 things that could go wrong.

1. A problem with the INSTALL tool.
Dont think so, because it happened with installs from BOTH Setupbuilder and
Wise.

2. The developers did something wrong with the installation.

3. There is a limit in the PATH string for WinXP PRO.


Any comments ?

Steven Sitas

[NewsArchive]

Steven,

In general, the maximum individual environment variable size is 8,192
bytes.

The maximum total environment variable size for *all* variables, which
includes variable names and the equal sign, is 65,536 KB.

-BUT-

The system PATH environment variable is limited to 1023 characters,
plus the terminating null character, for a total of 1024 characters.

Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
CEO, Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

[NewsArchive]

BTW, there is a XP hotfix available to increase this limit to 2,048 bytes.

In Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), the PATH environment variable limit is
increased to 2,048 characters.

--
Friedrich Linder
CEO, Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

[NewsArchive]

Hello Friedrich,
Can Setupbuilder "query" this limit ?
Then it could retrieve the path, check to see if we are going to have a path
"overflow" and prompt the user for an action.

Steven Sitas

[NewsArchive]

Hello Steven,

The problem is that Windows does not return any error if this happens. It
just truncates the PATH (it's not the installer that kills your PATH). And
it seems to depend on the Service Pack and/or hotfix level (on some machines
it's only 1,024 bytes, on other machines it's 2,048 bytes, but it can also
be less than 1,024 bytes).

Perhaps we can do the following:

1. Store the old PATH environment variable before adding a new path.
2. Add new path.
3. Check if old PATH environment variable is < new PATH environment
variable.
4. If YES (means: Windows killed your PATH), restore old PATH environment
variable.

I'll have to experiment with this.

Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
CEO, Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

[NewsArchive]

Steven,

Added. The installer can detect if there was a PATH environment truncation
problem. In this case it returns an error code to the script and restores
the original PATH environment variable.

This will be available in the next SB5 build.

Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
CEO, Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5

[NewsArchive]

Update: we have added a internal new function to support PATH environment
variables > 2.048 bytes.

Friedrich

--
Friedrich Linder
CEO, Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

"point. click. ship" - that's SetupBuilder 5