#1 How long before you ship? Search for "self-extract" and many of what comes up can be set to run a command-line at the end of the extract. I recently used some sort of WinZip-like program. I've also successfully used IExpress in the past.
#2 As far as I have been able to gather the reason is that Windows Installer stores two bits of data separately: the "SourceList" which are a list of directories used to search for cached copies of the original MSI file, and the name of the MSI, in case some of those cache directories contain other MSI files as well. So, they combine each path with the expected filename and if they don't find the package with the needed PackageGuid, they continue on to the next path in the list, prompting and/or failing when they are done. #3 I can't speak for Christopher but I would assume he was indicating something like this: <Condition Message="You must not rename the msi file!"> [OriginalDatabase] >> "\MYSUPPORTEDFILENAME.msi" </Condition> The comparison operator is ">>" (that isn't an email artifact). However, I'm concerned that may cause repairs and/or removals to fail. -----Original Message----- From: Lukas Haase [mailto:lukasha...@gmx.at] Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 3:27 PM To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Does the msi-filename matter? Dear Blair, Dear Christopher, Thank you for your reply. Am 22.07.2010 00:11, schrieb Blair: > [...] > This is part of the reason huge numbers of software producers distributing > over the internet use self-extract-and-launch-style wrappers (zip-exe style) > for their MSI distribution. Do you have a recommendation for such a tool? > [...] > It is true that changing the MSI file name forces a major upgrade. Isn't this really dumb? I am kind of disappointed of MSI... Everything gets a GUID in order to be REALLY sure that everything just depends on an ID and not on a name etc. And then...that?! > [...] I would suggest something like > [OriginalDatabase]>> \MYSUPPORTEDFILENAME.msi > http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370562(VS.85).aspx > > http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa368012(VS.85).aspx Is this what you mean? <Condition Message="You must not rename the msi file!"> OriginalDatabase ~<> "\MYSUPPORTEDFILENAME.msi" </Condition> Regards, Luke > Christopher Painter, Author of Deployment Engineering Blog > Have a hot tip, know a secret or read a really good thread that deserves > attention? E-Mail Me > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Lukas Haase<lukasha...@gmx.at> > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net > Sent: Wed, July 21, 2010 4:42:20 PM > Subject: [WiX-users] Does the msi-filename matter? > > Hi, > > Does the filename of the msi file matter in any way? > > I really DO NOT hope so! Because I have no influence if the user renames > the file before installing?! > > [1] says: "There are cases when the Windows Installer forces you to use > a major upgrade [...] You have to when you change the name of the .msi > file for any reason. [...]" > > Regards, > Luke > > > > > [1] http://www.tramontana.co.hu/wix/lesson4.php#4.1 > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > This SF.net email is sponsored by Sprint > What will you do first with EVO, the first 4G phone? > Visit sprint.com/first -- http://p.sf.net/sfu/sprint-com-first > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > This SF.net email is sponsored by Sprint > What will you do first with EVO, the first 4G phone? > Visit sprint.com/first -- http://p.sf.net/sfu/sprint-com-first > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > This SF.net email is sponsored by Sprint > What will you do first with EVO, the first 4G phone? > Visit sprint.com/first -- http://p.sf.net/sfu/sprint-com-first ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- This SF.net email is sponsored by Sprint What will you do first with EVO, the first 4G phone? Visit sprint.com/first -- http://p.sf.net/sfu/sprint-com-first _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net email is sponsored by Sprint What will you do first with EVO, the first 4G phone? Visit sprint.com/first -- http://p.sf.net/sfu/sprint-com-first _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users