[wix-devs] Pull Request #119

[Rob Mensching]

I left a comment on the pull request. I know that .NET 5 is changing the way that you are to find the codebase of an assembly (especially when building a single-file executable). However, I don't understand why we have to make the change now? Everything seems to be working correctly at the time using a solution that is supported for all of our scenarios. What is the motivation for this change in WiX v4?

-----Original Message-----
From: wix-devs <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> On Behalf Of Ron Martin via wix-devs
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2022 6:48 PM
To: Ron Martin <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Cc: Ron Martin <cpuwzd at comcast.net>
Subject: [wix-devs] Pull Request #119

Pull Request #119

The issue to which I refer as the CodeBase Issue, has to do with multiple places within the Wix 4 product that, for one reason or another, attempt to determine the file from which the currently executing code was loaded. One of the situations in which this might occur includes a vast number of system-level tests with names that begin with "CanBuild". This  can happens when the test needs to find wixnative.exe or WixToolset.Sdk.props.  Here, we are generally looking at a system that has built the Wix 4 product, but there might be scenarios in which these tests might be run during or after the installation of Wix 4 on a machine that is, for our purposes, only used to create installation packages and never used to build Wix 4, itself. 
Such tests might be run from the command line or from Visual Studio.

Beyond these tests, there might be other scenarios in which the Wix 4 product wants to know from where it was loaded. There are a couple of problems with trying to determine how a particular piece of code got loaded into the current process. The current code relies on either on a .NET Framework 4.72 API or a .NET Core 3.1 API, neither of which is available in .NET Core 5.0 or later. In .NET Core 5.0 and later, you can't depend on much that is operating-system dependent.

We need a classification of all the scenarios in which this situation arises that recognizes the actual problem that is currently being solved (or perhaps just being attacked) by using knowledge of the image source. 
Then we need a way to provide the necessary knowledge where it is needed.

When tests are run from disposable file systems, the actual path to the loaded image is typically in the temp directory of the user account running the test. This is very different from a non-test situation.

I'm sure that I don't grasp all of the issues involved, but I have been looking at this issue (among others) for at least nine months. I think that it is time for some guidance from and decision making by those holding the keys to the realm.

Ron Martin
cpuwzd

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