[osgeo4w-dev] Installer Change

[Frank Warmerdam]

Folks,

On my home network I have been trying to use an OSGeo4W install tree
on a shared network drive, but I was encountering problems when I tried
to use it with new machines and running the OSGeo4W installer.  The problem
was that the installer seemed to not recognise that there were installed
packages in tree, and was furthermore wiping out the
OSGeo4W\etc\setup\installed.db file.

I tracked this down to setup.exe not reloading the installed.db when the
root directory is changed in the dialog.  This meant the installer operated
as if it's initial idea of what packages were installed (none) was still
correct, if you didn't install something it would write out an empty list
file for what is installed when you exit.

I have fixed this, so changing the root (install location) causes the
installed.db to be re-read from the new location.

This also suggests to me that problems with the installed.db file may
be behind the problems we occationally hear when folks wipe their tree,
but for some reasonable required libraries will not get automatically
installed afterwards.  It may be that the setup.exe program was left running
while the C:\OSgeo4W tree was wiped, and after the wipe setup.exe was
exited at which point it would write out an incorrect \etc\setup\installed.db
file.  This would later confuse things as setup.exe would assume the
recorded packages were already installed.

If anyone can confirm or deny this theory I'd appreciate it.  The fix I
did won't help it, though being careful to close setup.exe before wiping
the OSGeo4W tree will help.

The new installer version has been uploaded.

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent