I’m using Inno Setup to package a Java application for Windows; the application tree is like this:
| MyApp.jar
---lib
| dependency-A-1.2.3.jar
| dependency-B-2.3.4.jar
| dependency-Z-x.y.z.jar
I use Ant to prepare the whole tree (all the files and folders) beforehand, including the lib directory (using *.jar wildcard to copy the dependencies), then I simply call ISCC with:
[Files]
Source: "PreparedFolder*"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: ignoreversion recursesubdirs
Now, I need to cleanup the lib directory everytime the user upgrades the application because I want to remove any obsolete dependencies. I could add the following section to my .iss file:
[InstallDelete]
{app}lib*.jar
but I’m not feeling safe because if a user decides to install the application in an existing folder that contains a not-empty lib subfolder (rare but not impossible), there is a chance that some user files are deleted on upgrade.
Is there any best practice to avoid this kind of troubles? Do other installers take care of these headaches? Thanks.
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Answer
You can uninstall the previous version before the installation:
- Inno Setup: How to automatically uninstall previous installed version?
- How to detect old installation and offer removal?
If you cannot do a complete uninstallation, you would have to implement a partial uninstallation.
Ideal would be to reverse-engineer the uninstaller log (unins000.dat), extract only installations to the lib subfolder and process (undo) them. But as that is an undocumented binary file, it can be difficult to do.
If you maintain an explicit list of files to be installed in the [Files] section, like
[Files]
Source: "libdependency-A-1.2.3.jar"; Dest: "{app}lib"
Source: "libdependency-B-2.3.4.jar"; Dest: "{app}lib"
then whenever a dependency changes, move the previous version to the [InstallDelete] section:
[Files]
Source: "libdependency-A-1.3.0.jar"; Dest: "{app}"
Source: "libdependency-B-2.3.4.jar"; Dest: "{app}"
[InstallDelete]
{app}libdependency-A-1.2.3.jar
If you install the dependencies using a wildcard,
[Files]
Source: "lib*.jar"; Dest: "{app}lib"
and you cannot reverse-engineer the uninstaller log, you would have to replicate its functionality by your own means.
You can use a preprocessor to generate a file with installed dependencies. Install that file to the {app} folder and process the file before installation.
[Files]
Source: "MyApp.jar"; DestDir: "{app}"
Source: "lib*.jar"; DestDir: "{app}lib"
#define ProcessFile(Source, FindResult, FindHandle)
Local[0] = FindGetFileName(FindHandle),
Local[1] = Source + "\" + Local[0],
Local[2] = FindNext(FindHandle),
"'" + Local[0] + "'#13#10" +
(Local[2] ? ProcessFile(Source, Local[2], FindHandle) : "")
#define ProcessFolder(Source)
Local[0] = FindFirst(Source + "\*.jar", faAnyFile),
ProcessFile(Source, Local[0], Local[0])
#define DepedenciesToInstall ProcessFolder("lib")
#define DependenciesLog "{app}dependencies.log"
[UninstallDelete]
Type: files; Name: "{#DependenciesLog}"
[Code]
procedure CurStepChanged(CurStep: TSetupStep);
var
AppPath, DependenciesLogPath: string;
Dependencies: TArrayOfString;
Count, I: Integer;
begin
DependenciesLogPath := ExpandConstant('{#DependenciesLog}');
if CurStep = ssInstall then
begin
// If dependencies log already exists,
// remove the previously installed dependencies
if LoadStringsFromFile(DependenciesLogPath, Dependencies) then
begin
Count := GetArrayLength(Dependencies);
Log(Format('Loaded %d dependencies, deleting...', [Count]));
for I := 0 to Count - 1 do
DeleteFile(ExpandConstant('{app}lib' + Dependencies[I]));
end;
end
else
if CurStep = ssPostInstall then
begin
// Now that the app folder already exists,
// save dependencies log (to be processed by future upgrade)
if SaveStringToFile(DependenciesLogPath, {#DepedenciesToInstall}, False) then
begin
Log('Created dependencies log');
end
else
begin
Log('Failed to create dependencies log');
end;
end;
end;
Another approach is to delete all files in the installation folder that is not installed by the latest installer.
The easiest solution is to delete all files in the installation folder before the installation.
You can use [InstallDelete] section for that. But if you have some folder/files with configuration in the installation folder, it won’t allow you to exclude them.
You can code that Pascal Scripting instead. See Inno Setup – Delete whole application folder except for data subdirectory. You can call the DelTreeExceptSavesDir function from my answer to the that question from CurStepChanged(ssInstall) event function:
procedure CurStepChanged(CurStep: TSetupStep);
begin
if CurStep = ssInstall then
begin
DelTreeExceptSavesDir(WizardDirValue);
end;
end;
If you really want to delete only obsolete files, to avoid deleting and re-creating existing files, you can use preprocessor to generate a list of files to be installed for the Pascal Scripting and use that to delete only really obsolete files.
#pragma parseroption -p-
#define FileEntry(DestDir)
" FilesNotToBeDeleted.Add('" + LowerCase(DestDir) + "');n"
#define ProcessFile(Source, Dest, FindResult, FindHandle)
FindResult
?
Local[0] = FindGetFileName(FindHandle),
Local[1] = Source + "\" + Local[0],
Local[2] = Dest + "\" + Local[0],
(Local[0] != "." && Local[0] != ".."
? FileEntry(Local[2]) +
(DirExists(Local[1]) ? ProcessFolder(Local[1], Local[2]) : "")
: "") +
ProcessFile(Source, Dest, FindNext(FindHandle), FindHandle)
:
""
#define ProcessFolder(Source, Dest)
Local[0] = FindFirst(Source + "\*", faAnyFile),
ProcessFile(Source, Dest, Local[0], Local[0])
#pragma parseroption -p+
[Code]
var
FilesNotToBeDeleted: TStringList;
function InitializeSetup(): Boolean;
begin
FilesNotToBeDeleted := TStringList.Create;
FilesNotToBeDeleted.Add('data');
{#Trim(ProcessFolder('buildexe.win-amd64-3.6', ''))}
FilesNotToBeDeleted.Sorted := True;
Result := True;
end;
procedure DeleteObsoleteFiles(Path: string; RelativePath: string);
var
FindRec: TFindRec;
FilePath: string;
FileRelativePath: string;
begin
if FindFirst(Path + '*', FindRec) then
begin
try
repeat
if (FindRec.Name <> '.') and (FindRec.Name <> '..') then
begin
FilePath := Path + '' + FindRec.Name;
FileRelativePath := RelativePath + '' + FindRec.Name;
if FindRec.Attributes and FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY <> 0 then
begin
DeleteObsoleteFiles(FilePath, FileRelativePath);
end;
if FilesNotToBeDeleted.IndexOf(Lowercase(FileRelativePath)) < 0 then
begin
if FindRec.Attributes and FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY <> 0 then
begin
if RemoveDir(FilePath) then
begin
Log(Format('Deleted obsolete directory %s', [FilePath]));
end
else
begin
Log(Format('Failed to delete obsolete directory %s', [FilePath]));
end;
end
else
begin
if DeleteFile(FilePath) then
begin
Log(Format('Deleted obsolete file %s', [FilePath]));
end
else
begin
Log(Format('Failed to delete obsolete file %s', [FilePath]));
end;
end;
end;
end;
until not FindNext(FindRec);
finally
FindClose(FindRec);
end;
end
else
begin
Log(Format('Failed to list %s', [Path]));
end;
end;
procedure CurStepChanged(CurStep: TSetupStep);
begin
if CurStep = ssInstall then
begin
Log('Looking for obsolete files...');
DeleteObsoleteFiles(WizardDirValue, '');
end;
end;