When Borland/Inprise originally released InterBase 6 as open source, I packaged up the binaries as merge modules for Windows Installer - which I needed for a project which I was working on - and also made them generally available. Since then, I regularly get EMails requesting that I make available merge modules for each new version of Firebird - I thus assume that there is a need out there for them.
The problem is that I no longer make any serious use of MS Windows. All my current work is on Linux, both paid for and personal, and I do not even have a copy of Windows 8 available to test on (nor do I want a copy of Windows 8). I also no longer have a personal interest in using the Merge Modules. I would like to give up maintaining them. Is anyone else interested in picking them up and supporting them or even making merge modules a standard part of each Firebird release? Or, failing that, willing to test them out with recent versions of Windows. The Merge Modules are generated from the distributed Firebird Binaries using scripts and the Open Source WIX package - which is used to package the binaries as Merge Modules. Generating a new set for a minor release of Firebird is little more than pointing the scripts at the new release. However, a new major version often brings in additional dependencies, requiring changes to the XML scripts used by WIX. The intended use for the Merge Modules is to enable the silent install of Firebird Server as part of an application and to avoid the need to separately install Firebird. They also include useful features to make it as easy as possible to install and upgrade Firebird. For example, automatic upgrade of the security database when necessary. I also use WIX to generate a number of example installation packages from the Merge Modules and these are used to test out the installation and upgrade features over the different versions of Windows. The current set of scripts used to generate the Merge Modules can be downloaded from: http://www.mwasoftware.co.uk/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=60&Itemid=82 Tony Whyman MWA Software ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ Firebird-Devel mailing list, web interface at https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/firebird-devel
