Thanks Blair. It seems that option #3 may be the way to go. Can you point me in the direction of any online resources for "Multiple-Package Installations"??
thanks in advance, Craig --- Craig Lemon 19 Princess Terrace, Newtown, Wellington 6021, NEW ZEALAND P: +64 4 977 7242 M: +64 27 414 4211 mailto:craig.le...@gmail.com --- On 19 July 2010 14:00, Blair <os...@live.com> wrote: > Three thoughts come to mind: > > 1. Most of what you are looking for can easily be achieved using Features > (a > concept in Windows Installer that WiX supports quite well), although > rolling > back would be difficult-to-impossible (all the rest of your requirements > would be relatively easy to meet). > > 2. If you use a boostrapper/chainer that supplies UI, you can make multiple > MSI packages (one for each application) and bundle them into the chainer > (so > they appear to be one product). > > 3. If you can require a minimum MSI version of 4.5, you can make use of > "Multiple-Package Installations" and do #2 using Windows Installer as your > chainer. You may need a simple bootstrapper to ensure MSI 4.5 (especially > with Vista RTM and XP machines) but this will permit using group policy and > similar administrative push systems that allow MSIs but don't allow EXEs to > install your suite of applications. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Craig Lemon [mailto:craig.le...@gmail.com] > Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2010 5:42 PM > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: [WiX-users] [off-topic] Installer architecture > > Hi All, > > First of all, apologies for this off-topic post. I am looking for some > suggestions on the architecture of an installer for a related group of > applications, and looking at replacing existing tool set with Wix - hence > posting to Wix list. > > I am part of a team that develop applications for a mission critical 24/7 > environment. We have a main application and numerous (15+) applications > that sit alongside. What we have currently is a single installer that > installs all of our applications as one installation. When it comes to > update one of the applications we currently copy in the new binaries, > replacing the existing. We can stop one or two applications at a time, but > as this is a mission critical 24/7 environment, we cannot stop ALL > applications to run an update installer that may only update one or two > components. > > For example, we have app1, app2, app3 app4 etc. Initially we have an > installation that installs all of these applications, under one install > key. > Then app1 has a bug identified and fixed. The fix requires a new > executable be distributed. The only change is a new executable for app1 > ... > no changes to app2, app3 or app4. The current process sees us stop app1 > only, manually copy in the new executable and start app1 again. > > So moving forward, what I am after is an installer architecture that allows > the following > > 1) First-up install of all components - in one install > 2) An update of individual components > 3) Facility of rollback to a previously updated component should the need > arise > 4) Ability to update all components if required > > I would be happy for the initial install to install each > component separately, but only want to have to run a single install. > > Thoughts/suggestions welcome. > > thanks in advance, > Craig > > --- > Craig Lemon > 19 Princess Terrace, Newtown, > Wellington 6021, NEW ZEALAND > P: +64 4 977 7242 M: +64 27 414 4211 > mailto:craig.le...@gmail.com > --- > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > 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
