[wix-devs] v4 - which .NET Framework?

[Sean Hall]

For 4.5.2, I'm thinking about the error third from the bottom from the
table at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh925569(v=vs.110).aspx.
I guess my memory is faulty, since I thought I saw this on more than just
Server 2012.  Remember, the only way Win8+ doesn't have .NET 4.x is that
the Windows Feature was turned off/uninstalled.

For the future question, unless we move from WiX v4 to v5 really fast, I
was trying to point out that we're going to end up supporting an OS and/or
.NET version that isn't supported by Microsoft.

On Tue, Aug 2, 2016 at 3:57 PM, Bob Arnson <bob at firegiant.com> wrote:

> I'd put it this way: As we're not (currently) targeting later than .NET
> 4.0 anyway, we can take advantage of that to avoid requiring a later
> version of the Framework in our installer. If we chose to target a later
> framework, I wouldn't say we should avoid doing so just because it
> streamlines the installer. (And I don't care in the slightest for Vista;
> it's still in extended support but Microsoft is ignoring it even for
> non-dev products like Office.)
>
> The 4.5.2 redist will install on Windows 8+. The 4.6.x redists will fail
> if on Windows 8.1 and KB2919355 isn't installed.
>
> Not understanding the question on v4.0...?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wix-devs [mailto:wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf
> Of Sean Hall
> Sent: Tuesday, 2 August, 2016 15:01
> To: WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> Subject: Re: [wix-devs] v4 - which .NET Framework?
>
> Let me see if I understand.  Our low bar is VS2010 which corresponds to
> .NET 4.0.  Since we want to avoid upgrading someone's .NET, that means that
> our compile target is .NET 4.0.  Even though VS2010 works on XP, we're not
> supporting XP (note: we're not blocking it today) and only supporting Vista
> SP2+ (because it's still supported by Microsoft today?).  Since 4.5.2 is
> currently supported on all of our supported OS's, that's what we'll set as
> the Prereq package in our bundle (note: this package will only work on
> Vista/7, missing .NET 4 on 8+ means that a Windows feature needs to be
> installed).  We'll modify the InstallCondition to only install if the
> prereq BA is running.  We're going to switch to the full redist package
> because the web redist for 4.5.2 is actually less efficient that the full
> redist when it needs to be installed (note: to counteract this, we need to
> make the package always uncompressed otherwise our bundle is going to be
> huge).
>
> Question for the future: what happens if we ship v4.0 after Vista and/or
> 4.5.2 loses support?
>
> On Tue, Aug 2, 2016 at 12:13 PM, Bob Arnson <bob at firegiant.com> wrote:
>
> > 4.6 is still supported:
> > https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2015/12/09/support-ending-for-
> > the-net-framework-4-4-5-and-4-5-1/
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: wix-devs [mailto:wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On
> > Behalf Of Rob Mensching
> > Sent: Tuesday, 2 August, 2016 13:08
> > To: WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> > Subject: Re: [wix-devs] v4 - which .NET Framework?
> >
> > We could install many different versions of .NET Framework in the
> > Bundle but I was trying to keep it simpler than that. We don't support
> > installing WiX Toolset on XP. So Vista is the lowest bar. My
> > understanding is v4.6.0 isn't supported. So if v4.6.1 doesn't support
> > Vista I think the simple answer is v4.5.2 everywhere. I'd only really
> > want to do the more complicated scenario below if there isn't a single
> > .NET Framework that supports all our target OS's (aka: Vista+).
> >
> > As for not up to date machines, we should either solve the problem or
> > ensure there is a good error message in mbapreq. This is the same
> > experience everyone else uses so it might as well be good.
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: wix-devs [mailto:wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On
> > Behalf Of Sean Hall
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2016 8:42 AM
> > To: WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> > Subject: Re: [wix-devs] v4 - which .NET Framework?
> >
> > If we're going to target a lower version of .NET than the one that the
> > bundle includes, then there's no reason for us to pick only one
> > version of .NET for the bundle.  We can set it up such that it
> > installs .NET 4.0 on XP SP3, .NET 4.6 on Vista SP2, and .NET 4.6.1 on
> Win 7 SP1 and later.
> >
> > The question then becomes, what happens when there is no 4.x version
> > of .NET installed on the machine and the version of .NET we have in
> > the bundle can't be installed on the current OS.  For instance, 4.6.1
> > cannot be installed on completely unpatched versions of Windows (I
> > don't remember off the top of my head which ones), it requires one (or
> > more) Windows Updates and/or service packs.  Do we just pop up a
> > message saying that they need to update their OS?  Do we ask them to
> > enable the .NET feature in Windows, or add functionality to burn to do
> it ourselves?
> >
> > Also, Phill mentioned switching to a Redist version.  I'm not sure
> > where that came from, or why we would want to do that.  If that's
> > because of layout, then I think there's a feature that could be
> > written for Burn where it can support using a Web version for install
> > and a Redist version for layout.
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