WiX - Cancel upgrade if previous version is not same configuration (Debug/Release)

Question

I'm having some issues with custom actions not working properly (and causing broken installations) when trying to install a Debug build on top of a Release build, or vice-versa. Therefore I'd like to prevent such upgrades completely, and force the user to manually uninstall first.

So far I have this:

<?if $(var.Configuration) = Debug?>
    <?define DisallowUpgrade = "yes"?>
<?else?>
    <?define DisallowUpgrade = "no"?>
<?endif?>

<MajorUpgrade Disallow="$(var.DisallowUpgrade)" ... />

This forces the user to always uninstall first when installing a Debug build (which is fine). However it does not stop a Release build from trying to upgrade over a Debug build. How can I do this?

Thanks!

P.S. As I was typing I just thought of increasing the version number for Debug builds -- say by adding 100 to it. This would work, but could lead to confusion with QA people, so I'd prefer a cleaner way.

Christopher Painter · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-25 13:08:39Z

2

Why would a "user" ever know what a debug / release build is? IMO a user should only ever see a release build.

I would suggest build debug MSI and release MSI as two different products (upgrade code and even destination directory if you want side by side installs ) and a debug can only upgrade a debug and a release can only upgrade a release and only release MSIs ever go out the door to customers.

And of course, the less custom actions the better. :)

answered Mar 25, 2016 at 13:08

Christopher Painter

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2 Comments

smead Over a year ago

Our debug builds include a bunch of extra features for internal testing; they don't go to customers. And we'd have to extensively rewrite our product to support side-by-side installs. Having them as two separate products would be fine; is it possible to do that while ensuring only one can be installed at a time?

Christopher Painter Over a year ago

Yes. Each Product could have a Upgrade entry using the detect only attribute for the other product's UpgardeCode. Then a launch condition that blocks installation if the opposite program is detected.

Bob Arnson · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-25 03:47:18Z

0

Write $(var.Configuration) to the registry, use RegistrySearch to load it, and use Condition to compare what's in the registry with the current value of $(var.Configuration).

answered Mar 25, 2016 at 3:47

Bob Arnson

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