Adding support for zip files

[mouser]

I need to add support in the updater for handling updates consisting of zip files.
I could use an open source zip compatible c++ library, or i could shell out to small unzipper.
Any thoughts?

[tinjaw]

I say add config options to call an external exe. This way people can choose how to do things. In the help file include links to download the free command line versions that almost all zip apps have. This would also allow for using compression algorithms that are better than zip. It would make the DcUpdater exe smaller as well.

I guess you could also call into dlls, but that wouldn't allow for customization.

Now, don't ask me how or why customization would be necessary. I'll leave that as an exercise for the class. 

[taichimaster]

I think unzip would be the simplest unless the plugin installer needs to do some pre or post commands before/after the installation like deleting some old stuff etc.  Also, for unzip, how are people going to specify which target directory the zip file is going to unzip to?  Is the .dcupdate file going to specify that with a macro like %PLUGINDIR%?  Or maybe just limit themselves to unzip to the same directory as the .dcupdate file?

External EXE is also good, but then you might have different people using different installer...Inno, NSIS, MSI...., so the user-experience might not be consistent.  Also, they might all show up as entries in Add/Remove Programs.

[mouser]

Or maybe just limit themselves to unzip to the same directory as the .dcupdate file?

this is what i was thinking.

I think unzip would be the simplest unless the plugin installer needs to do some pre or post commands before/after the installation like deleting some old stuff etc.

yes, in fact this pretty much cancels the idea of simply shelling an exe unzipper, since the updater may need to do post processing, and thus needs to know when unzipping has finished.  i'm looking for an open source unzip lib now..

External EXE is also good, but then you might have different people using different installer...Inno, NSIS, MSI...., so the user-experience might not be consistent.  Also, they might all show up as entries in Add/Remove Programs.

the updater already supports launching downloaded exe installers.

[Tekzel]

Hey Mouser, before I report a bug, does this thread mean DCUpdater can not currently update the FARR plugins? 

[justice]

Farr comes with updated versions of farr plugins that mouser has included in the default installation. Any other ones that have been added won't work at the moment if they depend on zip files, as that functionality is not in DCUpdater yet.

That's my understanding.

[jgpaiva]

Hey Mouser, before I report a bug, does this thread mean DCUpdater can not currently update the FARR plugins? 

-Tekzel (July 11, 2007, 08:38 AM)

Yes, that is correct. Until mouser adds unzipping to DCupdater, the plugins can't be updated. The version verification still works, though. All you have to do is unzip the plugins to their directory and dcupdater does the rest.

[Tekzel]

Ok, thanks guys.  I thought that might be the case, but just wanted to make sure.