Web update issues

[timbojones]

I'm testing the web deployment functionality of SB5, and I find a number of issues:

1) If I delete a file from my installation package, it is not deleted from a user's machine when they upgrade. It is left orphaned and will remain on their system until deleted manually -- uninstallation does not remove it either.

2) Web installation claims that it will only download files that have changed between versions, but it downloads all the files regardless.

3) The FTP uploader uploads all files regardless of whether they have changed. In addition, if I have deleted any files, I am left with extra installer files that are not actually in use.

My goal is to provide an installer that will both a) install on a clean system and b) update an existing installation by downloading only files that have changed. If files are deleted from my build, they should be deleted when users upgrade. Can SetupBuilder meet my needs?

[linder]

Hi Tim,

Thank you for your message and your interest in SetupBuilder.

> I'm testing the web deployment functionality of SB5, and I find a number
> of issues:
>
> 1) If I delete a file from my installation package, it is not deleted
> from a user's machine when they upgrade. It is left orphaned and will
> remain on their system until deleted manually -- uninstallation does not
> remove it either.

You only have to add a "Delete File" script item and you are done.

> 2) Web installation claims that it will only download files that have
> changed between versions, but it downloads all the files regardless.

Did you enable the "Check File (CRC)" File Replacement Option (see File
Properties dialog)?

> 3) The FTP uploader uploads all files regardless of whether they have
> changed. In addition, if I have deleted any files, I am left with extra
> installer files that are not actually in use.

Yes, this is correct and by design. It's not possible to automatically
upload only "new files". The date/file stamp of files on the server is
always <> the original file/time stamp. And to generate a CRC32 of all
server files, we would have to download all files first (not a good
idea).

> My goal is to provide an installer that will both a) install on a clean
> system and b) update an existing installation by downloading only files
> that have changed. If files are deleted from my build, they should be
> deleted when users upgrade. Can SetupBuilder meet my needs?

No problem. Most of our customers are doing this all the time. And our
own SetupBuilder 5 full installs and web installs are doing this. The
web install only downloads changed files are deletes files not needed
any longer.

Please drop me a line if you have any further questions.

Friedrich

[timbojones]

You only have to add a "Delete File" script item and you are done.

Is there a way to automate this? Our product contains over 7000 files, included with a *.* filter. Diffing directories between builds and manually adding Delete File items for each deleted file is more work than I want to do.

I'll have to keep a list of Delete File items for every file that's been deleted ever, so that a user upgrading from version 1 to version 3 doesn't miss the files that got deleted in version 2. I have to wrap each Delete File in an If File/Folder exists block to prevent errors when another user upgrades from version 2 to version 3. If a file is added back, I need to remove its Delete File item. I need to consider duplicate items as I add new entries.

My experience with Wise suggests that Windows Installer keeps track of installed files via 'components'. Seems like it should be possible to figure out which files/components no longer exist and delete them.

SetupBuilder is everything we're looking for, except for this issue.

[linder]

Tim,

I this an "update only" installation, or does it also install the full version?

If it is an update, I can think of a new switch in the Auto Update Generator to let SetupBuilder automatically add remove files/folder statements in one of the next builds. It should not be a problem to add this.

What do you think?

Friedrich

[timbojones]

Ideally, we would have one set of release files with one installer. Our current solution involves one monolithic installer which we update with each released version and a series of patches between each release. The patches are nice and small, but very fragile.

If we were to release a full install and an update install, we'd have to disallow updates via the full installer.

[linder]

Okay, thanks for the info.

IMO, it's always a good idea to provide both full installs and (web) updates because it's easier to maintain.

If something goes wrong with the update, the user can still perform a full install.

[timbojones]

IMO, it's always a good idea to provide both full installs and (web) updates because it's easier to maintain.

It is possible to do that without maintaining two nearly-identical parallel installer projects?

[linder]

What we do is the following:

We create a full SetupBuilder installation. This can be used by new users and those "update users" who are interested in a clean install.

Then we let "Auto Update Generator" create an (web) update for us. This update makes it possible to bring all (5.0, 5.1, 5.2, etc.) SetupBuilder 5 versions to the latest build.

I have a few ideas for future SB5 versions on how to handle updates. If you would like to see specific (updates) features in SetupBuilder 5 just drop me a line. SB5 works rock solid now. We are working on enhancements now...

Thanks,

[timbojones]

How would I enable Web Update in the full install to refer to the update installer?

Our compressed installation is 1.5 GB, I don't want our users to have to download that all at once. That's why we're looking at web deployment in the first place. Seems like you're suggesting a single monolithic installer and a partial update installer?

Do I understand correctly, that you run auto update using the first vs. the latest revision? Were file deletion implemented as part of auto-update, that method would still leave orphans if they are added after v1 and deleted later.

I think in order for file deletion to work properly in an automated fashion, the installer will have to know which files are part of the existing installation, and remove them if they are not part of the incoming upgrade.

[linder]

Tim,

You only have to configure the iDeploy Web Update client (see "Using Web Update in Your Installation" online help or PDF manual topic). This gives your software the ability to check a specified location on the Internet for updates.

Yes, we run Auto Update using the first (in our case the Gold version) vs. the latest revision.

Thanks,