You can probably just pretty print the
wixlib files and inspect them directly – its just xml (unless you use the –bf option
to bind files into it – in which case it’s a cabinet file with xml appended to
the end).
Derek
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Shmarya Rubenstein
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 10:03
AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc:
wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [WiX-users] MergeModules
vs. WixLib
Hi Rob,
Firstly, I've now completed my migrate to .wixlib (thanks to a lot of
multi-file/regex/find-replace ;)) and am very happy with the results... for a
number of reasons:
0. You're absolutely right, wixlibs are what I needed all along... I think I was
just mislead by what I'd previously heard about wixlibs in v2...
1. They are much faster building...
2. They are much smaller once built...
3. Loose coupling ('soft' linking) is extremely powerful
About the viewer tool.... I often like to look into the modules I create and
verify things without having to build the entire MSI... Now I have to build an
MSI inorder to inspect it... It lengthens my turnaround cycle...
All in all, I'm very pleased with .wixlibs...
On 7/31/06, Rob Mensching <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >
wrote:
0. It is less about
"preferable" and more about ".wixlibs actually are designed to
solve the problems it appears you are working on. Merge Modules are not
intended to be used the way you are trying to use them."
1. Not much. But in WiX v2, there
really isn't much to .wixlibs. They are purely a collection of .wixobj
files. Basically a more convenient way of moving around collections of
compiled source code. In WiX v2, use .wixlibs just like you would
.wixobjs. In WiX v3, .wixlibs get a set of features that help them
compete directly with Merge Modules (such that I really don't think you'll need
Merge Modules unless you are distributing setup to someone that doesn't use the
WiX toolset).
2. No. Is there a tool for
inspecting .lib files? Why do you need such a tool?
Derek just pretty much answered in one of the other
threads on this issue:
"Merge modules are processed by
mergemod.dll (a special dll from the Windows SDK), so WiX has very little
interaction with the contents of merge modules being put in your MSI
file. This is one of the reasons we advise against using merge modules –
they are a black box that you either take or leave in their entirety.
Even if you build merge modules for an external customer, you can also create
wixlibs (or just straight wixobjs) from the authoring in the merge module for
internal usage. Basically, you should only use merge modules from
external groups and only ship merge modules to external customers. Merge
modules are good for sharing across different organizations because you might
not both be using WiX (or the same version of WiX), but within an organization,
the wixlib files are the way to go. "
Ok, so I understand that wixlibs are preferrable....
That leaves 2 major questions:
1. Where is the documentation for libs?
2. Is there a tool for inspecting wixlibs similar to ORCA? If not, is this
something planned for the future?
--
Shmarya
-----------------------------------------------------------
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- http://shmarya.net
NUnit rocks! http://nunit.com
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