Ethereal-dev: Re: [Ethereal-dev] Next Release: Win32 NSIS installer pending que stions

Note: This archive is from the project's previous web site, ethereal.com. This list is no longer active.

From: Ulf Lamping <ulf.lamping@xxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 21:16:42 +0100
Anders Broman (TN/EAB) wrote:

Hi,
Perhaps we should first split the question in two parts, most people seems to be ok with using
the new installer so ( if no objections ) we could go ahead and implement that.
That's almost done, partially by Lars Roland and partially by me :-)
I had a short look at the NSIS webpage, you have to use the recent version V2.0rc3 to use the lzma compression,
the modern UI is quite a while ago, so any V2.0 version should do.

The second part is what to do with the gtk2 windows version which may need some more thought.
I can see that it will be confusing for new user with two different verson no mather what we do.
The best solution may be to have two different install directories and keep the name of the binary.
../ethereal/ ../ethereal-gtk2/ ???
This may also solve future *.dll conflicts ?
Yes, but that will end up putting all additional files duplicated in both dirs, e.g. "help", "plugins" as Ethereal will search only at that place. So IMHO putting it all in a single dir (like my first proposal) might be the better choice as the *only* advantage of your idea
would be to solve future *.dll conflicts ;-)

Is it possible to install the same file in two directories with NSIS ? ( if one installer ).
Would be no big thing, you would install the file as usual and then switch to a different "output path" (using SetOutPath) and install the same file again.

Two different installers may be a good idea as the user presumably nows what he downloaded, and
the difference can be explained.
Best regards
Anders
If we don't want to have an "all in one package", I would tend to make the following:

Keeping the current GTK1 version installer working just like before, named e.g.: "ethereal-setup-0.10.1.exe", but it should also uninstall GTK2 specific DLL's and such too (solves e.g. the following much better: install GTK2, install GTK1, uninstall).

The GTK2 version installer named "ethereal-gtk2-setup-0.10.1.exe", will include the ethereal-gtk2.exe (installed as ethereal.exe) plus the corresponding GTK2 dll's and such. So this will overwrite the maybe existing GTK1 ethereal.exe.

Which version is really installed can then be seen at "Control Panel/Software" as the GTK1 version will report something like: "Ethereal 0.10.1" and the GTk2 version "Ethereal (GTK2) 0.10.1" and of course you can see the GTK version in the Ethereal's About dialog ;-)

This will result in an "GTK1 *or* GTK2" install, as both installed versions will not work in parallel. The user can install them in seperate dirs, but even that will make some problems with uninstall, desktop icons and such, so it's not recommended.

At the webpage we should explain this in general, and it should be stated clearly that it will not work to install both versions in parallel.

Regards, ULFL