[wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted variables from related bundles

Sat Aug 1 11:19:09 PDT 2020

I agree with Sean. I think this is an easy feature to say: WiX v4+

I also really like Sean's suggestion to toast the .rsm file and store all the persisted variables in the ARP registry key. Hopefully that works with Burn's timing of writing the ARP key vs. when the .rsm file was being written.

I particularly like that this reduces the number of files we could potentially leave behind on disk. ARP provides user the option to remove all the related ARP registry keys if the target uninstall command cannot be found on disk.

-----Original Message-----
From: wix-devs <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> On Behalf Of Hoover, Jacob via wix-devs
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 11:49 AM
To: WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Cc: Hoover, Jacob <Jacob.Hoover at greenheck.com>
Subject: Re: [wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted variables from related bundles

Yeah, and I agree that we shouldn't read it.  Just didn't know if it was an expectation or if we can just make the 4 change and bask in its glory going forward.

From: wix-devs [mailto:wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of Sean Hall via wix-devs
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2020 1:13 PM
To: WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Cc: Sean Hall <r.sean.hall at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted variables from related bundles

I don't think we should be trying to read the state file from older bundles, is that what you're asking?

On Wed, Jul 29, 2020 at 12:00 PM Hoover, Jacob <Jacob.Hoover at greenheck.com<mailto:Jacob.Hoover at greenheck.com>>
wrote:

> Interesting.
>
>
>
> If I only do this in 4, would you think any effort would need to be 
> done to try to farm off 3x state data, or can we just say from 4 going 
> forward it's in the registry?
>
>
>
> *From:* wix-devs [mailto:wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] *On 
> Behalf Of *Sean Hall via wix-devs
> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 29, 2020 12:46 PM
> *To:* WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List 
> <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>>
> *Cc:* Sean Hall <r.sean.hall at gmail.com<mailto:r.sean.hall at gmail.com>>
> *Subject:* Re: [wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted 
> variables from related bundles
>
>
>
> By "secure", you mean a Variable that is Hidden="yes"? The state file 
> is just as secure as the registry. I feel like the interaction between 
> Hidden and Persisted wasn't fully thought through, hence the issue I 
> created - 
> https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/4862<https://github.com/wi
> xtoolset/issues/issues/4862>. I've been following the .NET Core 
> discussion about obsoleting SecureString (
> https://github.com/dotnet/designs/pull/147<https://github.com/dotnet/d
> esigns/pull/147>) and I'm wondering if there's actually value in the 
> engine encrypting Hidden variables. I had hoped that MSI was also 
> trying to be careful with Hidden properties, but I think the WiX 
> documentation is right - it only hides it from being written to the log.
>
> I didn't see anything in your POC that removed the "shared" variables 
> from the state file.
>
> I'm suggesting that "shared" is unnecessary, and that all Persisted="yes"
> variables should be stored in the registry instead of the state file.
>
> On Wed, Jul 29, 2020 at 11:07 AM Hoover, Jacob 
> <Jacob.Hoover at greenheck.com
<mailto:Jacob.Hoover at greenheck.com%0b>> >
> wrote:
>
> > I was trying to find a happy medium. As the registry isn't a "secure"
> > location, I was envisioning that it would be limited use so the 
> > author could explicitly define what they wanted to share. Going from 
> > memory, I don't think my POC implementation stores in both locations.
> >
> >
> >
> > Are you suggesting of eliminating local storage of variables and 
> > place them all in the registry?
> >
> >
> >
> > I'll work on a WIP as soon as I can garner enough feedback to at 
> > least ensure I am not totally off base.
> >
> >
> >
> > *From:* wix-devs [mailto:wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org
> <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org><mailto:wix-devs-bounces at lists.
> wixtoolset.org%0b%3e%20%3cwix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org%3e>] 
> *On
> > Behalf Of *Sean Hall via wix-devs
> > *Sent:* Tuesday, July 28, 2020 6:46 PM
> > *To:* WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List 
> > <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> > >
> > *Cc:* Sean Hall 
> > <r.sean.hall at gmail.com<mailto:r.sean.hall at gmail.com>>
> > *Subject:* Re: [wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted 
> > variables from related bundles
> >
> >
> >
> > I think it's a good idea to persist the variables in the registry. I
> think
> > there should be a single source of truth so I don't think they 
> > should
> also
> > be persisted to the state file.
> >
> > I'm having trouble coming up with a use case for persisting a 
> > variable
> for
> > the bundle but not for related bundles. Why shouldn't all persisted 
> > variables be "shared"?
> >
> > Please write a WIP.
> >
> > On Fri, Jul 24, 2020 at 10:14 AM Hoover, Jacob via wix-devs < 
> > wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>> wrote:
> >
> > > https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/3704<https://github.co
> > > m/wixtoolset/issues/issues/3704>
> > >
> > > I haven't done my searching yet, but this is related to some work 
> > > I had done internally. My thought was instead of allowing access 
> > > to persisted variables, to allow for "shared" variables which 
> > > would be written to
> the
> > > registry. In addition to not needing to be concerned with
> format/version
> > > and/or invoking the other bundle to ask it for data, we could 
> > > simply
> > allow
> > > for shared variables to be accessed via the registry.
> > >
> > > I believe this was my rough in of the POC:
> > >
> >
> https://github.com/wixtoolset/wix3/compare/develop...jchoover:WIXFEAT3
> 704<https://github.com/wixtoolset/wix3/compare/develop...jchoover:WIXF
> EAT3704>
> > >
> > > Thoughts?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Jacob
> > >
> > > __________________________________________________________________
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