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- a component is only installed if its KeyPath is determined to be out-of-date (older file version, mismatched hash) - all files in a component are installed to the same directory - there are problems with adding and removing files from a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.html#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
