CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#visual-studiowixwindows-installer
AP7
AP7

Reputation: 45

Integrate Wix setup with application's debug folder

I have a .NET application debug folder but not the complete visual studio solution. I am trying to generate a wix installer from this.

Things tried: I created a project called setup using WIX toolset. In my .net solution, there are now two projects, the main project helloWorld and the wix project setup. Inside the setup I added the reference of helloWorld and it worked fine. I am able to create the installer for my helloWorld project.

Here, I added the reference of the application project for which we want to generate the installer.

Problem:

As I have only application's - debug folder(i.e the application's .exe , .exe.config and other files) and not the complete visual solution. I am not able to generate the WIX installer from it.

Question:

  1. Is it possible to generate WIX installer from debug folder without having the complete visual studio solution?
  2. If possible, are there any document or things I can try?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 604

Answers (1)

Stein Åsmul
Stein Åsmul

Reputation: 42126

Redistributing Debug Binaries: Debug versions of binaries should not be redistributed for several reasons (technical, security, legal, practical, etc...).

  • Technically: First of all, they require their own complement of debug runtime DLLs in order to run and these debug files are not present on normal, non-developer computers with standard runtime components installed. Debug dlls often have an extra "d" in their file name: mfcm140d.dll versus mfcm140.dll for example (look for them on a PC with Visual Studio installed).

  • Legally: Redistributing debug binaries for standard runtime components is actually illegal - it violates EULAs with regards to what is redistributable (normally). And no, this is not a trifle - don't do it.

  • Security: Debug binaries also contain a lot of debugging symbols and in .NET assemblies a lot of meta information that should generally not be sent to others. You would have to ask someone else for the full technical details.

  • Practical: Several practical issues too. For one thing: don't underestimate the confusion involved in redistributing debug versions of files. Creating an internal setup with debug binaries to test on computers set up with debug runtimes could work for internal QA though. Just wait for someone to send that to a customer or for someone to upload it for download on your web-site (by mistake).

For debugging purposes some people redistribute *.pdb files - "Program DataBase" - along with their software - instead of debug dlls. More on PDB files.

Hello WiX: With the above stated, adding debug dlls to a setup is no different from adding release files. There is a WiX Visual Studio Hello World example here. It should show you the basics of compiling a working setup with WiX and Visual Studio. There are also a bunch of quick start tips for WiX here (many links to samples).

Some Links:

Upvotes: 1

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