[wix-users] Help with MSM including in MSI

[John Zajac]

Also, in my experience, using merge modules internally / only to your
organization but also for purposes of sharing 'behavior', if you will, such
as custom actions and setting up config files - activities where your merge
module would need a CustomAction table in your merge module the consuming
MSI may need to also pass property values/parameters to - could be
nightmarish.

Be curious to hear what others (Chris?) think about that. I'm tempted to
hold onto a strong opinion: that merge modules should 1) be internal to an
organization as a way of sharing and 2) limited to tables like components,
files, dirs, resources and stay away from putting in behavior such as
custom actions

re: "I do shy away from using merge modules in the third party sense
because there have been so many poorly authored merge modules that
consuming them often introduces problems into your own MSI.  For these I
prefer  EXE/MSI redists and chaining them using Burn."

So in my current case where an internal merge module is shared across
multiple products and that has several XmlConfig, CustomAction tables -
behavior stuff - would be better off either A) having the behavior in the
merge modules extracted and have it's consuming MSI responsible for or B)
having it be it's own MSI instead and wrap them with a burn EXE.


On Thu, Apr 8, 2021 at 12:33 PM Christopher Painter via wix-users <
wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org> wrote:

> Hi Miles,
>
>  Remember that MSI predates WiX.  Merge Modules absolutely can be used as
> libraries to build a larger installer.  That's what my tool IsWiX is all
> based on.   Merge modules can be useful because you can author them using
> WiX and consume them using InstallShield as an example. WiX then came along
> and created it's fragment and wixlib patterns to streamline all of that and
> eliminate some complexities associated with merge modules but this assumes
> you are staying in an all WiX ecosystem.
>
>  I do shy away from using merge modules in the third party sense because
> there have been so many poorly authored merge modules that consuming them
> often introduces problems into your own MSI.  For these I prefer  EXE/MSI
> redists and chaining them using Burn.
>
>
> As to the original question of how do you "convert" an MSI to an MSM...
> you don't really.   MSI has concept of Product, UI, Features, Installation
> directory and so on.  Merge modules are more abstract.  They have  module
> signature,  sub directories, components, resources but none of the other
> previously mentioned meta that an MSI has.
>
> Regards,
> Chris
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wix-users <wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> On Behalf Of
> Miles Davies via wix-users
> Sent: Thursday, April 8, 2021 8:08 AM
> To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> Cc: Miles Davies <Miles.Davies at horiba.com>
> Subject: Re: [wix-users] Help with MSM including in MSI
>
> Hi Pavel,
>         I wonder if I might ask why? This would seem an odd thing to do,
> at least as far as my understanding goes.
>
> MSM files are Windows installer 'merge modules' which are intended to be
> distributed by themselves. The merge module is then used by external
> parties to include into their own installers. An example might be a library
> or tool such as the Microsoft CRT re-distributable. Merge modules are not
> designed as a 'library' container to build a larger installer from. That
> would be more closely mirrored by a WiX library.
>
> In terms of installing a set of MSM files for an external user to consume
> in their own installers you wouldn't want to unpack them in your MSI but
> xcopy them into a known location.
>
> I can help with creating a MSM and consuming it from an MSI but I am not
> really sure that is what you want.
>
> Best regards,
>         Miles
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wix-users <wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> On Behalf Of Pa
> via wix-users
> Sent: 05 April 2021 17:03
> To: wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org
> Cc: pavel.zelenko at ktp.solutions
> Subject: [wix-users] Help with MSM including in MSI
>
> Guys, can someone help me by providing full example of converting .MSI to
> .MSM and include these newly created .MSM into another .MSI
>
> The sample or example will be helpful
>
> Thanks in advance
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
-John