Patching Question

[blanes]

What does the patching system look at when determining the difference between two MSIs and which files to update/add. Is it looking at the timestamp on the files or something else?

[Mike]

Hi,

When determining the differences between two MSIs the patching system will look at the actual content of the files. If the content is different this means that file has to be updated.

Regards,
Mihai

[blanes]

It has to be a little more complicated than that. I have run a few tests where it would not update a file even if they contain different data. One where the old file has a newer timestamp than the updated file. And the other when the old file was manually updated after the first install. How does the patch know not to update a file that has been edited or updated separately from the patch.

[Mike]

Hi,

Although a file is being included in the patch it might not be installed. This is because file versioning rules are taken into consideration when applying a patch.

For more information on file versioning rules please visit:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/defau ... _rules.asp

Regards,
Mihai