Repackager not creating CAB file
I decided to finally try Repackager 1.1 today for the first time, and I think it has a lot of potential, but I can't get the thing to actually generate the CAB file that contains all the data for the package. It creates the .msi just fine, and I can see it blip past the CAB file generation immediately after it processes the tables, but it never actually creates the file. When I open the .msi after it's created, the media table links a MSIProject.cab file, but there is no file to link to and it lists <null> in the source field.
I have the Repackager installed on my dev server and am running it on a clean client over the network. I've tried redirecting the output to a local folder on the client and even creating a dedicated share for the Repackager folder. Nothing seems to work. I haven't been able to find any logs anywhere, so I don't know why it's failing.
With the .msi open in InstEd, I tried selecting the MSIProject.cab and doing a rebuild, and it generated errors saying that the source files couldn't be found. It was trying to find them in the local Repackager\Packages folder, so when the .msi was built, I think it was supposed to copy those files to the Packages folder before compressing them into a .cab. The only contents of that folder right now are the .xml file and .msi file.
Any ideas on this?
Thanks-
MrH
I have the Repackager installed on my dev server and am running it on a clean client over the network. I've tried redirecting the output to a local folder on the client and even creating a dedicated share for the Repackager folder. Nothing seems to work. I haven't been able to find any logs anywhere, so I don't know why it's failing.
With the .msi open in InstEd, I tried selecting the MSIProject.cab and doing a rebuild, and it generated errors saying that the source files couldn't be found. It was trying to find them in the local Repackager\Packages folder, so when the .msi was built, I think it was supposed to copy those files to the Packages folder before compressing them into a .cab. The only contents of that folder right now are the .xml file and .msi file.
Any ideas on this?
Thanks-
MrH
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Posted by:
instedit
15 years ago
Hi MrH,
I can't speak for the repackager, but InstEd's "rebuild cabs" feature assumes that the files are
available in the external source tree. I believe this is unlikely to be the case for a repackager
built msi. There is no rule specifying that the Repackager is "supposed" to copy them. It
doesn't have to if it is building cabs.
My point is that using InstEd to rebuild the cabs doesn't validate whether the Repackager
has done the correct thing.
As to your actual problem, forgive me if you already know this stuff but:
If the Media entry's Cabinet field specifies a # at the start, look in the _Streams table
for the cabinet. (The Source field has no bearing on the location of the msi).
Otherwise it should be a sibling of the msi.
Failing that, it certainly seems that the repackager has failed to build it, or at least put it in
the correct spot..
Neil
I can't speak for the repackager, but InstEd's "rebuild cabs" feature assumes that the files are
available in the external source tree. I believe this is unlikely to be the case for a repackager
built msi. There is no rule specifying that the Repackager is "supposed" to copy them. It
doesn't have to if it is building cabs.
My point is that using InstEd to rebuild the cabs doesn't validate whether the Repackager
has done the correct thing.
As to your actual problem, forgive me if you already know this stuff but:
If the Media entry's Cabinet field specifies a # at the start, look in the _Streams table
for the cabinet. (The Source field has no bearing on the location of the msi).
Otherwise it should be a sibling of the msi.
Failing that, it certainly seems that the repackager has failed to build it, or at least put it in
the correct spot..
Neil
Posted by:
MrH
15 years ago
Thanks, Neil-
The _Streams table has two entries, one for an embedded icon I linked during the build, and one for Summary Information, no sign of a .cab. I did a global file search on both the server and the client I used to build the package and the .cab doesn't exist. Since there is no real documentation yet on the Repackager and I can't find a build log anywhere, I have no way of knowing what it's doing in the background or why it's failing to create the .cab.
I wasn't sure exactly how the Repackager creates the .cab file, but it seemed reasonable that it might gather all the files into a cache (located where the .msi is) and then build the .cab, which is why I tried the rebuild cabs feature in InstEd, just to see where it would be looking. I see now that InstEd is simply looking at the Source Path fields in the File table which naturally refers to the pathing relative to where the .msi is at the time.
So I guess I'm back to the original issue. Any other ideas?
The _Streams table has two entries, one for an embedded icon I linked during the build, and one for Summary Information, no sign of a .cab. I did a global file search on both the server and the client I used to build the package and the .cab doesn't exist. Since there is no real documentation yet on the Repackager and I can't find a build log anywhere, I have no way of knowing what it's doing in the background or why it's failing to create the .cab.
I wasn't sure exactly how the Repackager creates the .cab file, but it seemed reasonable that it might gather all the files into a cache (located where the .msi is) and then build the .cab, which is why I tried the rebuild cabs feature in InstEd, just to see where it would be looking. I see now that InstEd is simply looking at the Source Path fields in the File table which naturally refers to the pathing relative to where the .msi is at the time.
So I guess I'm back to the original issue. Any other ideas?
Posted by:
elbartogrande
15 years ago
I'm having the same issue packaging on Vista (over netw or locally). Any new info on this one?
Posted by:
bkelly
15 years ago
Sorry, not yet. Working on a new update but I don't have an estimate as to when it will be ready for release. Check back in a couple weeks!
Posted by:
kryzantem
15 years ago
I think I found a solution.
The repackager tool failed to launch most of the installers between the two snapshots and hanged => I had to manually kill it and re run it again after installation of the software to package.
Even though everything looked fine after the second snapshot. No cab file was generated.
Told him not to launch the setup.exe between the two snapshots but manually run it instead => that worked in my case.
Dunno if it's the exact same problem but if it can at least help a few people in the same case as me that's fine.
Bye
The repackager tool failed to launch most of the installers between the two snapshots and hanged => I had to manually kill it and re run it again after installation of the software to package.
Even though everything looked fine after the second snapshot. No cab file was generated.
Told him not to launch the setup.exe between the two snapshots but manually run it instead => that worked in my case.
Dunno if it's the exact same problem but if it can at least help a few people in the same case as me that's fine.
Bye
Posted by:
Berry
15 years ago
I also experience this behaviour when i create a package and want to save it to another location that the system drive C:.
Also it seems that there is a double backslash in the default MSI target directory.
What is the problem and more over the solution?
Also it seems that there is a double backslash in the default MSI target directory.
What is the problem and more over the solution?
Posted by:
stwilfrids
15 years ago
I tried v1.1 and v1.2 beta and get the same issue. I've also tried saving the package locally and on the remote server with no success.
Posted by:
gperks
14 years ago
stwilfrids, can you help me reproduce this? Does it happen with any installer? Where are you saving the MSI to? What version of Windows? Thanks!
Posted by:
gperks
14 years ago
After you've created an MSI with missing CAB... Can you please look at c:\ErrorLog.txt, and let us know if there are suspicious entries (aka error messages) at the bottom?
Posted by:
bkelly
14 years ago
Please give beta 3 a shot: http://itninja.com/question/faulttree-105184
Posted by:
gperks
14 years ago
This has been tracked down to mis-handling file names containing single quotes. The next update will contain a fix for this.
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