Thanks. In the end, I found this reference which provided me the explanation I required:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2005/08/30/458295.aspx regards sanjay > -----Original Message----- > From: Rob Mensching [mailto:r...@robmensching.com] > Sent: 12 December 2012 05:16 > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Repair Problem > > Check out the File Versioning Rules topic in the MSI SDK. It explains this > behavior. > > > On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 3:44 PM, Sanjay Poria > <sanjay.po...@xanalys.com>wrote: > > > My company moved to using msi around a year and I authored a major > > product release and subsequent patch files (small update msp's that do > > not increment the baseline version) using wix. The product contains a > > number of binary files. Recently we had an issue where the customer > > manually replaced a couple of the binary files (.pdb) in the Program > > Files install area. Now, there was a later issue which meant that they > > wanted to go back to the latest installed version so we suggested just > > doing a "Repair" of the product from the control panel... > > Unfortunately the repair had no effect on the binary files and did not > > replace them with the version in the latest installed product. > > > > After some research I find that if I manually run a repair with the > > /fo flag (the default), the files are not replaced, but if I run it > > with /fd, they are replaced as expected. > > > > The help says > > o - Reinstalls if file is missing or an older version is installed. > > d - Reinstalls if file is missing or a different version is installed. > > > > > > My questions are: > > - Why didn't msiexec realise the file was different based on the > > differing timestamp > > - More worrying, when doing a repair from the control panel, the > > repair clearly fails for all/some of the files, but we get no error > > message. Should we tell the client to always run it from the command line? > > Can we build this option into the original msi and what are the > > downsides of this? > > - Clearly the customer is breaking some best practises by > > overwriting files in the Program Files area but I did expect they > > would be safe because the repair would work. Are there some rules we > > can give to the customer to follow in the future? > > > > Any help is appreciated (especially because I know this is really a > > MSI issue and not a Wix one). > > Regards > > sanjay > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > -------- LogMeIn Rescue: Anywhere, Anytime Remote support for IT. Free > > Trial Remotely access PCs and mobile devices and provide instant > > support Improve your efficiency, and focus on delivering more > > value-add services Discover what IT Professionals Know. Rescue > > delivers http://p.sf.net/sfu/logmein_12329d2d > > _______________________________________________ > > WiX-users mailing list > > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > > > -- > virtually, > > Rob Mensching > http://RobMensching.com LLC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ LogMeIn Rescue: Anywhere, Anytime Remote support for IT. Free Trial Remotely access PCs and mobile devices and provide instant support Improve your efficiency, and focus on delivering more value-add services Discover what IT Professionals Know. Rescue delivers http://p.sf.net/sfu/logmein_12329d2d _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
