[wpkg-users] [Bug 89] WPKG Client service fails to start

[bugzilla-daemon at bugzilla.wpkg.org]

http://bugzilla.wpkg.org/show_bug.cgi?id=89





--- Comment #15 from Tomasz Chmielewski <mangoo at wpkg.org>  2007-12-06 16:46:27 ---
Marco:

> This is a known problem in all previous version of WPKG, as i've reported (i
> think in list, not in BTS) before.

It was a different problem back then.
The initial idea was to keep all setting in %PROGRAMFILES%\wpkg - that's why
that directory was made read only for the user installing the program. It
turned out to be problematic if the program was installed/upgraded by different
users (SYSTEM and/or Administrator). On Vista, it was even worse.
Now, settings are kept in "secure locks" in registry, and we no longer force
permissions on that directory.


> The only cue i've found it is exacly what proposed, or upgrade WPKGClient with
> > the same user was installed.
> really, now i use a little script that schedule 2 minutes in advance the
> initial wpkg.js run so i'm sure to install WPKGClient as system user.

> You han see easily if you hit this bug if your %PROGRAMFILES%\WPKG folder have
> the permission totally screwed, eg no permission at all; to cure it, simply
> restore permission to that folder, at least for SYSTEM and Administrators.

This bug with directory permissions no longer applies (unless a very recent,
pre-1.0 version of WPKG Client / installer was on that machines).


> I don't know if this is a bug of installer or some 'limitation' of windows...

I'm not sure where the problem lies. My guess it has something to do with the
users installing the Client?

It may be a problem with MSI, also known as a Windows Installer - its design is
totally flawed when you compare it to DEB or RPM known from non-Windows
systems.

Let me demonstrate one flaw of MSI / Windows Installer - let's call the
software MSI_is_Broken:

1. Install MSI_is_Broken 1.0 as a SYSTEM user - let's assume it installs
%PROGRAMFILES%\Broken\broken.exe

2. Upgrade to MSI_is_Broken 2.0, this time as Administrator. Surely, it will
install a newer version of %PROGRAMFILES%\Broken\broken.exe (2.0).

3. Probably you will notice that, but for Windows, it is seen as if you have
MSI_is_Broken installed twice - you can verify it in Software Add/Remove
(provided you installed with ALLUSERS=1; let's say you didn't use ALLUSERS=1
for the first installation)

4. Now, interesting can happen if you, Administrator, decide to remove it: go
to  Software Add/Remove, remove the software, it will say "Success"... You will
later notice that it wasn't removed at all from
%PROGRAMFILES%\Broken\broken.exe. Why? Right, because SYSTEM installed it, too.
So although for SYSTEM, it is still installed as
%PROGRAMFILES%\Broken\broken.exe (1.0), in reality the file is
%PROGRAMFILES%\Broken\broken.exe (2.0).


At least this was so with my limited testing.

So probably, this bug is not limited to just WPKG Client - it may be well so
for other MSI-based software installed by different users.

I would be glad if someone from this list knew the technicals of MSI packages
better?


But where this bug lies, I still don't know.


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