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Re: Installer project directory clarifications
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Re: Installer project directory clarifications


  • Subject: Re: Installer project directory clarifications
  • From: Stéphane Sudre <email@hidden>
  • Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 22:39:28 +0200


On lundi, mars 26, 2007, at 06:48 PM, Luke Bellandi wrote:

Hi Mike & Stéphane,

On Mar 25, 2007, at 11:57 AM, Stéphane Sudre wrote:

On dimanche, mars 25, 2007, at 06:20 PM, Mike wrote:

<snip>


But there's really no interest in creating a package per raw components (application, associated frameworks, Application Support sub folder, etc...)

Actually there is. Consider this example:

Let's say you're shipping a product that has an application and a framework. You make 2 packages, one with the application and one with the framework. You then make a distribution that installs both bundles. Up to this point, this is functionally equivalent to putting everything in one package, except that you will have two receipts:

receipt 1: MySoftware Application v1.0
receipt 2: MySoftware Framework v1.0

[...]

As you can see, method 2 gets messier as time goes on and you ship updates to your software's components.

I'd suggest you spend some time considering what the most logical divisions in your software product are, and create individual software packages along those lines. It will make life much easier for you as you ship updates to your software.

I should mention first that with method 2, I would personally not follow the update strategy you describe. I would update the application version if the frameworks needs to be updated and would provide a complete package even for update without changing its name but just the version (since the package version is in theory different from the application version). Usually, if you need to fix a frameworks, it would be surprising that you do not update the application itself at the same time. This will result in a bigger archive, sure. But, contrary to what the e-mails landing in my spam mailbox state, with OS updates reaching 130 MB, size does not really matter a lot these days for most users. Of course, YMMV if deployment is to be made on a big local network or if DSL is still a Sci-Fi acronym where you live.


Some issues I can imagine with method 1:

1. If your OS requirements include 10.3 or earlier, you will not be able to hide the fact that you have 2 components in your package and this may introduce some confusion for the user.

2. Tech support might rather have the version of the application updated along with the framework as it would allow them to track issues more easily. Of course, you can put the frameworks version in the About box as in Xcode. But who really provides this information every time he/she filed a bug report against Xcode? I know I don't.

3. Finally, the user may end up installing a framework version that is not compatible with the application.

But I'm probably wrong...


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 >Re: Installer project directory clarifications (From: Luke Bellandi <email@hidden>)

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