[wix-users] Creating a Minor Upgrade Shipped as a Full Installation Package

[joel at techtonictools.com]

I need to deploy an updated binary to machines that already have the
package/app installed, I need to leave the registry alone so that the user
settings are preserved and also increment the version number. For machines
that don't already have the package/app, I need the same .msi to perform a
full install. 

 

The Microsoft documentation for the Windows Installer
<https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/patching-and-upgrades>
says a Minor Upgrade can be shipped as a full installation package or as a
patch and that is the feature I'd like to use. But the Wix documentation for
Minor Upgrade points me to doing a patch instead. The book "Wix: A
Developers Guide to Windows Installer XML" also points to doing a patch.

 

Where can I learn how to use Wix to perform a Minor Upgrade shipped as a
full installation package? Any tips, pointers would be appreciated.