WhatToDo
6th August 2005 18:52 UTC

Multiple Versions vs Overwriting older versions
I have searched and not found any useful info, so perhaps
someone has helpful hints...

I am developing an app that is being tested by several people,
each testing various parts of the app. New versions are
released almost daily, and I am using NSIS to build the
installer. Some of the team desire to keep old versions around
to do "side-by-side" testing and others prefer to overwrite
the older versions to minimize system clutter.

My main issues are:

• The best way to remove old versions
• The best way to provide side-by-side versions
• Managing Start Menu and Desktop Shortcuts

What I am considering is:

• Determine if an old version is present.
• If present, query during install to overwrite or keep.
• If overwrite, execute the versions uninstall.exe
• If keep, install to a new directory based upon current version.

Has anyone done this sort of thing that could offer recommended practices?

As far as the Start Menu and Desktop Shortcuts, I am currently
providing the version info with the Desktop Icon
and writing the Start Menu Shortcut using:

!define APPNAME "MyProgram"
!define VERSION "1_00"
...
CreateShortCut "$DESKTOP\${APPNAME} v${VERSION}.lnk" \
   "$INSTDIR\${APPNAME}.exe"
CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\${APPNAME}\v${VERSION}\${APPNAME}.lnk" \
   "$INSTDIR\${APPNAME}.exe"

Again, I ask, is there a better (preferred) method of doing this?

Thanks,
David