At the risk of sounding anti-wix (I'm very pro-wix!) you might ask yourself if you need an installer at all. If you're not doing any kind of upgrades, uninstalls, etc., and everything is content... Why not just a DVD with a simple batch file that copies everything and creates shortcut(s)? It can easily be done and in the case of something so big, there is some overhead with any installer. It doesn't seem like this case warrants the sophistication inherent in an .msi.
I've worked in shops where all our installations were internal, and for content we just pulled the goods right out of our source control tool. It is a different kind of file copy, but a file copy none the less. We saved a lot of time by not having to archive/compress huge files, etc. -Matt -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Igor Maslov Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 2:16 PM To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [WiX-users] How to improve speed of installation? Thanks, That's exactly kind of info I needed. 1. Seems that -sh is a solution for me. I don't use Windows Installer for upgrades. It's always a full install. 2. I generate single WiX file with all source files listed there. All I need is to lay out files on dvd in the same order as they are listed in the wix source file? If I compress all files into a single cab, are they in the same order as in Sequence table? In this case I'm good? Igor Mike Dimmick-2 wrote: > > The more components there are, the more checking has to be done (of > KeyPaths) to determine what needs to be copied. You could potentially > increase the number of files per component, but be aware that: > > - a component is only installed if its KeyPath is determined to be > out-of-date (older file version, mismatched hash) > - all files in a component are installed to the same directory > - there are problems with adding and removing files from a component > > WiX always generates hashes for unversioned files, unless the -sh switch > is > specified. However, if you do specify -sh, it also doesn't extract the > version number, making the feature useless. There is no other way to > override the hashing. This costs you time when building the MSI - because > the files going into the package must be hashed - and at install time, > because the existing file must be hashed. If you're installing large files > this process may take a lot of time since it has to read the whole > currently-installed file to decide whether to overwrite it. Whether this > is > good or bad depends on the relative speed of the source and destination > media and whether they can be run in parallel. > > I'd always assumed that the creation timestamp was taken into > consideration > for an unversioned file, but re-reading the SDK's Default Versioning Rules > it appears that actually, last installed file wins, for unversioned files > (as long as the currently-installed file has not been modified). > > Compressing the files might improve transfer speed from the DVD; the > overhead of decompressing is negligible on a modern system. The CAB > compression scheme isn't particularly advanced and therefore doesn't tax > the > processor. > > Another thing not often considered is the physical layout on the DVD. I > recall VS.NET 2003 taking a lot less time to install than VS.NET 2002 > simply > because the physical file layout was woeful for 2002: the CD drive was > constantly seeking. Windows Installer installs the files in the sequence > listed in the Sequence column of the File table. It doesn't look like > there's any way to control the Sequence in WiX - it simply lays out the > files in the order that the intermediate files are supplied to light (for > a > wixlib, the order the wixobj files were supplied to lit), and within that, > the order they appeared in the source. > > -- > Mike Dimmick > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Igor Maslov > Sent: 24 May 2007 19:55 > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] How to improve speed of installation? > > > Hello everybody, > > Thank you very much for your advices. I tried several options but an issue > still remains. > > I was wondering if changing the way I organize components and media can > affect install speed. > > What will perform faster: > > 1. Having 1 component per file, or putting large number of files in a > single > component > > 2. Providing I install from DVD what is faster : uncompressed files or cab > . > Note that big chunk of input files is already compressed. > > 3. Is there any overhead like CRC computation, or anything like performed > at > "File Copy" > stage that I could switch off. > > Thank you , > Igor > > > > Igor Maslov wrote: >> >> This is probably more Windows Installer question than a WiX specific. >> >> I have an install with abot 3 GB of files. All it does is copying files >> and creating shortcuts. >> >> MSI file has tranforms for several languages, this localization affects >> only installer GUI, >> set of files is language neutral and it's stored in separate cab files >> not >> embedded in MSI. >> >> The speed of the installation phase is very slow. At the beginning of the >> installation, just before copying files >> it sits there for 5 minutes. >> >> I wonder if there are any properties or settings I could use to improve >> speed of installation (and uninstall) >> >> Thank you >> >> > > -- > View this message in context: > http://www.nabble.com/How-to-improve-speed-of-installation--tf3780060.ht ml#a > 10790358 > Sent from the wix-users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - > This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express > Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take > control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. > http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - > This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express > Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take > control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. > http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > -- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/How-to-improve-speed-of-installation--tf3780060.ht ml#a10792854 Sent from the wix-users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ - This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
