[TC 9.51] Auto install ramblings

[FrankH]

There is a wiki article on this topic:
https://www.ghisler.ch/wiki/index.php/How_to_make_installation_fully_automatic%3F
1) nice, thanks for the article
2) Suggestion: please add an example
3) paramter parameter
4) Can one omit parameters? What are the default values?
4a) What does A0H1 do?
5) " L accepts a language number from install.inf, e.g. L2=german"
Please add (a link to) the supported languages, a current INSTALL.INF, or the fact that one can extract INSTALL.INF from the installer.exe
5a) INSTALL.INF in tcmd951x64.exe is not encoded as UTF-8
6) "K=install wincmd.key from the same directory where the installer is located."
My guess, based on experiment (did not attach a debugger): This is incorrect. The installer looks for wincmd.key in the current working directory, not the directory of the installer.
7) Suggestion: Please add a link to the wiki article to the Installation FAQ: https://www.ghisler.com/efaq_inst.htm

[white]

This old post from "TC9.5x bug reports (English)" deserves some answers. So here we go.

1. I leave it up to Ghisler to respond to this.

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2. I plan to improve the wiki page. Maybe I'll add it. Anyone with a forum account can do that BTW.

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3. Fixed.

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4. Yes all of them The switches H L M G D U W only effect automatic installation. Defaults are:
   A0
   H0
   L1 (English)
   M1 (M)
   G1 (G)
   D1 (D)
   U1 (U)
   W0
   (defaults can be changed in INSTALL.INF)

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   4a. Disables auto install if that was made the default in INSTALL.INF

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5. See the answer to question 2.

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   5a. Maybe on purpose? See answer to question 1.

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6. You are right, it is incorrect. It is also described this way in HISTORY.TXT:

   31.07.16 Added: One more parameter added to installer: /K installs wincmd.key file located in same directory as the installer. Note: All parameters MUST be passed in one group after a single slash (32/64)

   2ghisler(Author)
   How do you want to handle this? I assume you want to keep the behavior as it is for compatibility reasons. Change the wiki and also change HISTORY.TXT so people don't get the wrong idea?

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7. See answer to question 1.

[white]

Moderator message from: white » 2022-08-30, 19:41 UTC

Moved to TC10.x bugs forum.

[ghisler(Author)]

Where is the bug? Just the typo in the Wiki?

[white]

Either you intended it the way you described in HISTORY.TXT and wiki and it's a bug, or you described it wrong twice.

Change the wiki and also change HISTORY.TXT so people don't get the wrong idea?

[ghisler(Author)]

I think you misunderstand something here. The wiki explanation

K=install wincmd.key from the same directory where the installer is located.

Doesn't mean that you use a parameter
/K=path
It just explains that the parameter K means that a key from the installer directory will be copied.
Maybe I should just change that to:
K: install wincmd.key from the same directory where the installer is located
But then people will think they can use a colon after the K switch. Oh well...

But I don't understand what you mean with changing HISTORY.TXT, the entry is correct?

[white]

6) "K=install wincmd.key from the same directory where the installer is located."
My guess, based on experiment (did not attach a debugger): This is incorrect. The installer looks for wincmd.key in the current working directory, not the directory of the installer.

So if current dir is c:\ and you start the installer with c:\downloads\tcmd1051x32_64.exe /K, then the key from the root of drive c: is installed, not from the directory of the installer.

[ghisler(Author)]

Sorry, I missed that. It only works when giving the installation file as a parameter. I will fix it.

[white]

Sorry, I missed that. It only works when giving the installation file as a parameter. I will fix it.

Confirmed.

While testing I first couldn't get /A to work, it switched to interactive mode and offered to update, even if I also used U or F. I had an installation in c:\totalcmd but cleaned the registry and removed %APPDATA%\GHISLER. After I cleaned up everything it worked again and couldn't reproduce anymore. Is there any situation using the original installers where the /A switch is used but the installer still switches to interactive mode?

[ghisler(Author)]

2white
I have sent you another pre-release version where the key install should be fixed, please try it!

Is there any situation using the original installers where the /A switch is used but the installer still switches to interactive mode?

I have checked my code, it should not happen - the auto-install function is separate, and the installer doesn't fall back to interactive when it fails.

[white]

2white
I have sent you another pre-release version where the key install should be fixed, please try it!

I will check it now.

Is there any situation using the original installers where the /A switch is used but the installer still switches to interactive mode?

I have checked my code, it should not happen - the auto-install function is separate, and the installer doesn't fall back to interactive when it fails.

OK, then lets assume I made a mistake. Perhaps used \ instead of /, who knows

[white]

01.09.22 Fixed: Installer: Parameter /K made the installer look for the key in the current directory instead of the installer directory (32/64)

Tested OK using TC 10.51.

[white]

There is a wiki article on this topic:
https://www.ghisler.ch/wiki/index.php/How_to_make_installation_fully_automatic%3F
1) nice, thanks for the article
2) Suggestion: please add an example
3) paramter parameter
4) Can one omit parameters? What are the default values?
4a) What does A0H1 do?
5) " L accepts a language number from install.inf, e.g. L2=german"
Please add (a link to) the supported languages, a current INSTALL.INF, or the fact that one can extract INSTALL.INF from the installer.exe
5a) INSTALL.INF in tcmd951x64.exe is not encoded as UTF-8
6) "K=install wincmd.key from the same directory where the installer is located."
My guess, based on experiment (did not attach a debugger): This is incorrect. The installer looks for wincmd.key in the current working directory, not the directory of the installer.
7) Suggestion: Please add a link to the wiki article to the Installation FAQ: https://www.ghisler.com/efaq_inst.htm

I plan to improve the wiki page. Maybe I'll add it. Anyone with a forum account can do that BTW.

Due to personal circumstances I put the project on hold for a while, but have now updated the wiki page. I've also added an new wiki page https://www.ghisler.ch/wiki/index.php/Installer with lots of information and examples. I'm also planning to create a wiki page on how to create a custom installer, but that's still a work in progress. Enjoy!

[ghisler(Author)]

Very nice, thanks a lot!

[white]

I have now also added the wiki page Custom installer and changed the wiki page How to make installation fully automatic? which is now very small.

It remains cumbersome to create a custom self extracting install program. It would be much easier if the zipfromlist command supported a parameter to specify a sfxhead.sfx file, as suggested here.