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-
- What's new in Ghost Installer
- =============================
-
- Symbol "-" - fixed bugs,
- "+" - new features,
- "*" - changes.
-
-
- Version 1.6.4 (from 06/21/2001)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- * English help and ".lng" file has been corrected.
-
-
- Version 1.6.3 (from 06/05/2001)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- - Deleting or replacement of sets of locked files didn't work properly under
- Windows 9x, only the first file got actually processed.
-
- - Replacement of locked files with long names didn't work properly under
- Windows 9x.
-
- - The usage counters of shared files were incremented every time an
- application was installed, no matter whether it was installed before or not.
-
- + Added support for Windows Millennium and Windows XP.
-
- - The dialog "Installation Aborted" didn't appear, if the option NeedRebot=1
- was set.
-
- - Registration of a COM servers didn't work correctly when the actually file
- was locked and needed to be replaced.
-
- - Registration of fonts failed sometimes.
-
- * The file installation doesn't get recorded in the log file, if the file is
- installed over an existing file. An exception are shared files.
-
- - When a shared file that needs to be installed exists in the system without
- a usage counter, the new counter was set to "1", not "2".
-
- * The log file is now always placed at %InstallPath%\install.log. The parameter
- LogFile in gins.ini is no longer used.
-
- * NOTE: the uninstaller (UnGins.exe) is now placed at %InstallPath%. At
- uninstallation it removes itself automatically. If run without parameters,
- the uninstaller looks for the file install.log in the same directory.
-
- + The file regsvr32.exe is now included in every distribution package (adds
- just 4 KB), consequently a COM server can be registered correctly in Windows
- of any version.
-
- + Line Feed and Carriage Return are processed now, when displaying text in the
- main window.
-
- - Registry keys created during the installation were removed completely on
- uninstallation, even though there might have been sub-keys not created by
- the installer.
-
- + The bitmap in the uninstaller dialog can be replaced by a custom bitmap.
- Name your bitmap UnGins.bmp and put it into the Presetup directory of your
- distribution package. By default the uninstaller doesn't have a bitmap.
-
- + Added the option to run external applications after the reboot only.
-
- + Added support for Windows XP visual styles.
-
- * The complete removal of all the necessary files now occures before the
- installation of new files.
-
-
- Version 1.62 (from 12/20/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- - Checking of free disk space was not made when you built distributive package.
-
- + CompressionLevel parameter has been added to a gin-file. You can change it from
- 1 (min. compression) to 7 (max. compression), by default 7.
-
- * When installing files with equal versions, its dates are compared now too.
-
- - "Can't extract presetup files!" error message was raised at starting distributive
- package, which contained very large amount of files (about 1500 and above).
-
- * CRC checking is removed now, becouse it is very long time process with the large
- packages. Now package size is checked at starting instead CRC checking.
-
- - Free disk space checking was very long time when package contained very large
- amount of files.
-
-
- Version 1.61 (from 11/17/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- - Files without attribures were not put to the package in some cases.
-
- - Message windows were centered from all screen, not from working area.
-
- - Bugfixes in background window paint function.
-
- + New variable - Office97Templates.
-
-
- Version 1.6 (from 10/20/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- * Completely re-designed the compression/uncompression mechanism. The engine of
- the installer does not depend on a specific compression algorithm any longer, so
- the algorithm can be replaced easily. By now Microsoft CAB format with the
- LZX compression system is used (the compression is much stronger than ZIP and
- a bit better than RAR).
-
- * The encryption scheme is now independent from the compression algorithm too.
- Right now the encryption standard GOST 28147-89 with 256 bit keys is used.
-
- + Added the possibility to register out-of-process COM servers.
-
- - In case of execution of an external program the main window of the setup
- could be closed or moved.
-
- * The intro screen appears prior to the consistency check of the package.
-
- * RichEdit control is used in dialogs DLG_LICENSE and DLG_README, so you can
- provide text in RTF format.
-
- + Added the possibility to set background color in dialogs DLG_LICENSE and
- DLG_README. (Use parameters LicenseBackColor and ReadmeBackColor in the Display
- section of the gins.ini file.)
-
- + Added a new parameter UninstallKey to the Config section of gins.ini. This
- parameter determines the name of the registry key, where the uninstall
- information of the application will be stored.
-
- - When the InstallPath parameter was not set (and was not used in the actual
- installation), the installer reported insufficient disc space.
-
- + Added a parameter MinOSVersion (Config section of the gins.ini file) which
- defines the windows version required to run the application.
-
- + Added the possibility to set the window mode (normal, maximized or minimized)
- and an additional comment while a shortcut is being created.
-
- - When a shortcut was created for a second time with a different icon, windows
- kept the old icon in the cache and presented it.
-
- - If uninstall was started from an open Programs folder, the folder itself was not
- removed.
-
- - If the InstallPath parameter contained a folder name with more than one dot
- character (like "My.Program.1.0"), under Windows 95 the installer reported
- insufficient disc space.
-
- * A new parameter was added to the AddReg section, to define the type of the
- variable to be stored in the registry.
- NOTE: variables beginning with # don't need to be numeric any longer.
-
- - In the section RegVariables the numeric parameters (REG_DWORD) could not be
- read.
-
- + The binary variables (REG_BINARY) can be added to or retrieved from the
- registry (AddReg, RegVariables).
-
- + Now it is possible to check, if the application to be installed is already
- running. Use parameters CheckWindow and CheckMutex in the gins.ini file.
-
- * Due to recent changes, following parameters are no longer in use and can be
- removed safely:
- a). section VersionInfo in the gins.ini file;
- b). file build.ini
- c). variables UpdateVersionInfo, Compression and RarLock in the gins.ini.
-
- * The design of the dialogs has been changed slightly.
- NOTE: The size of the gins.bmp is now 480x64, so if you are using your own
- Picture, you will need to resize it.
-
- - When a non-RAR compression with flag NO_LOG was used, file could not be
- uncompressed, if the destination directory did not exist.
-
- + Added a parameter RemoveOldReferences to gins.ini file. This parameter allows
- to remove all references to the old version of the application, if the new one
- is about to be installed into the same directory.
-
- - If the Internet Information Server was not installed on the destination computer
- the variables IIS-WWWRoot and IIS-Scripts were empty. Now they will be set to
- point to "%BootDrive%\wwwroot" and "%BootDrive%\wwwroot\scripts".
-
- + Added a parameter MainTitle, to set the title of the main window to any value,
- not just to ProgramName.
-
- + If the destination directory, chosen in the dialog DLG_DIR already exists, the
- installer will ask for a user confirmation.
-
- + Added a possibility to remove files during the installation (section DelFiles
- in the setup scenario file).
-
- + The windows system colors can be used in all the color settings.
-
-
- Version 1.52 (from 07/17/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- * Integrity checks are not performed, if package is located on the CD-ROM or network
- drive and its size more then 1 Mb.
-
- + Parameter RarLock is added to gin-file in section Config.
-
- + Parameter AutoSelectLanguage is added to configuration file gins.ini.
-
-
- Version 1.51 (from 07/10/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- + Installation flag REGISTER_SERVER can register type libraries now.
-
- + Parameter LanguageName is added to lng-file in section Strings.
-
- - During uninstall font in Windows 9x it was not removed from fonts list (but
- file was removed).
-
- - If dialog name was written wrong in PreInstallDialogSequence or
- PostInstallDialogSequence, installer hanged at this dialog showing stage.
-
-
- Version 1.5 (from 06/13/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- + New variables: ApplicationData, QuickLaunch, IIS-WWWRoot, IIS-Scripts, Office97,
- Office2000.
-
- + Now it is possible to disable drawing dialog titles (ShowDialogTitle parameter).
-
- - If you press close window button and then "No" button, the dialog with question
- about cancelling installation reappeared.
-
- - If there were "." symbols in a ExeName parameter of the gin-file, a Build utility
- dropped all symbols after the ".".
-
- * The background window fills only its working area, not the full screen.
-
- * During RAR-comression the GUI-version of WinRAR is used (WinRAR.exe).
-
- * ATTENTION! DefaultInstallPath parameter has been deleted. To set the default
- installation path you must define the "InstallPath" variable.
-
- + You can read variables values from the registry and ini-files (RegVariables and
- IniVariables sections).
-
- + You can show a logo bitmap at presetup files unpacking stage.
-
- - Installer crashed while copying external files after showing version conflict
- dialog.
-
- - Version conflict dialog was not centered.
-
- + When distribution package starts it performs an integrity check first.
-
- + Now it is not necessary to create the directory structure of the package - you
- can specify to the Build utility, where it can found some files (FileLinks
- section of gin-file).
-
- * File unpacking is considerably faster than before when using RAR-compression.
-
- + You can use environment variables as simple Ghost Installer's variables.
-
- - UnGins.exe size was not used during calculation of necessary disk space.
-
- + Parameter ExtraDiskSpace is added in gins.ini. It defines, how much additional
- disk space is required beyond installation requirements.
-
-
- Version 1.41 (from 05/17/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- - Quotation marks in the section PreRunApp are processed incorrectly.
-
- * All installer's text files are replaced with one hlp-file.
-
- - When specified gin-file did not exist, Build said "Presetup directory is not
- exists!"
-
- + Parameter "DefaultCompression" was added to the build.ini.
-
- + When deleting hlp-file the appropriate gid- and fts-files are deleted too.
-
- * Variable names are now case-insensitive.
-
-
- Version 1.4 fix 2 (from 05/05/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- * The DLG_LANGUAGE dialog now shows only those languages supported by the operating
- system.
-
- - Adjusting installation script to the installed Windows version does not work
- (does not loaded script files except *.ins).
-
-
- Version 1.4 fix 1 (from 04/19/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- - Dialogs are placed incorrectly when ShowMainWindow=0.
-
-
- Version 1.4 (from 04/17/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- + New variables: BDE, Date, ProgramGroup, LangStr.
-
- - RunApp section processing did not switch to the selected language.
-
- + List of languages, supported by Ghost Installer, was increased (now 105 languages
- are supported).
-
- + Possible to use installation flag DONT_OVERWRITE for registry modification,
- ini-file creation/modification or at shortcut creation.
-
- - Installation process passed incorrectly when installing to the root directory.
-
- - Files without extensions were not matched with the mask "*.*".
-
- - In Windows 9x after the installation began, in some cases the Escape key did not
- work in console applications.
-
- + The background window of the setup program now supports bitmaps.
-
- + Possible to assign a location of dialogs.
-
- - In the versions 1.3 and 1.31 copying external files did not work (installation
- flag EXTERNAL_FILE).
-
- + Possible to fill the background window with a bitmap, not only gradient.
-
- + It is possible to define, for which Windows versions the distribution package is
- intended.
-
- * The installation script can adjust to a Windows version more precisely (file
- extensions ".9x", ".95", ".98", ".nt", ".nt4", ".2k").
-
- - It was impossible to set registry parameter, at which name there was a symbol
- "\". Now it is possible to set such parameter, if you include its name in
- quotation marks (single or double).
-
- * Languages list in the DLG_LANGUAGE dialog are sorted now.
-
- + Installing/uninstalling shared files are realized (installation flag
- SHARED_FILE).
-
- + Uninstaller is now multi-lingual.
-
- * Password checking is done in the DLG_PASSWORD dialog now, not during unpacking of
- encrypted files.
-
- + The ZIP compression algorithm was added (non-standard format). WinRAR is not
- needed for it. It is possible to choose compression algorithm.
-
- - If some file in the Presetup directory hasn't any attribute, it is not included
- to a distribution package.
-
- * If some parameter, adding to an ini-file, already exists, it will not added to an
- installation log-file.
-
- + New dialog (for choosing program group) - DLG_GROUP.
-
- * The "Yes" button in the DLG_LICENSE dialog is no longer the default now, so the
- user will not casually skip over this dialog.
-
- + During shortcut creation it's possible to specify a file with icon (and its
- number), and also a hotkey.
-
- + Added feature to specify necessity of rebooting after installation.
-
- + Added feature to cancel showing final dialog.
-
- + Added feature of writing to the HKEY_USERS registry key.
-
- + A button for creating directories was added in the Choose Installation Directory
- dialog.
-
- * ATTENTION! The formulation of a phrase about version conflict is changed to more
- suitable. So the meanings of buttons "Yes" and "No" is swapped.
-
- + The buttons "Yes to all" and "No to all" were added to the Version Conflict
- dialog.
-
- + The feature of deleting registry subkeys and parameters at installation was
- added.
-
- + Now you can execute an external applications immediately after unpacking presetup
- files (before dialogs are shown).
-
- + The feature of executing applications during uninstallation was added.
-
- + Now it is possible to cancel drawing the program name in a background window.
-
- + It is possible to choose a default font for all dialogs.
-
-
- Version 1.31 (from 02/22/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- - Quotation marks were processed incorrectly.
-
-
- Version 1.3 (from 02/21/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- - The installer incorrectly processed localized file names.
-
- + Some documentation fixes and additions.
-
- * During file copying, replacement of an existing file by a new file does not
- occur, if they have equal versions and sizes.
-
- - If in path, where the log-file was created, there were no two or more
- directories, the installation interrupted.
-
- - In Windows 95 with build number less then 1111 (earlier then OSR2) at
- installation start there was a error "Insufficient free disk space!".
-
- - In Windows 95 shortcuts in folder "%CommonDesktop%" were not created.
-
- * Build utility now works with one parameter only - building configuration file.
-
- + Added the feature to set a password on the distribution package.
-
- + New dialog (for entering password) - DLG_PASSWORD.
-
- * File Gins.lng was removed. Each language is based in its own file, which is
- automatically added to the distribution package if necessary.
-
- + Added Danish translation.
-
- - If installation did not create any directories, during uninstallation the
- log-file was not deleted.
-
- - Fonts charset was not adjusted to chosen language.
-
- - If while creating a shortcut, a path to the object was surrounded with quotation
- marks, the shortcut was not created.
-
- * ATTENTION! Parameter <version> in section "files copying" was removed. Now for
- storing file version information use the section "VersionInfo" in the
- configuration file "Gins.ini".
-
- + The Build utility can take files version information and put it to a VersionInfo
- section.
-
- - Uninstaller did not remove lines from ini-files.
-
- - When REGISTER_SERVER installation flag was used, the installation process failed
- to complete properly.
-
- - When a string parameter with an empty value was added to the registry, its value
- became equal to value of default parameter.
-
- - In Windows 9x an "in-use" file, locked by system, was not replaced if it had a
- long filename.
-
- * Processing of single and double quotation marks was changed.
-
-
- Version 1.2 (from 01/24/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- - The installer worked incorrectly with large script files (greater than 64K), and
- uninstaller - with large log-files.
-
- * The principle of mask processing in files copying section is slightly changed.
-
- + The processing of the Escape key is added to the dialogs.
-
- + New installation flag - EXTERNAL_FILE (feature for copying external files which
- are not included in the distribution package).
-
- - From the documentation it wasn't clear where the text is stored for dialogs
- DLG_LICENSE and DLG_README.
-
- + Ukrainian translation added.
-
- - Installer did not work, if the directory for temporary files was removed.
-
- + In the file Languages.txt the list of available languages is extended.
-
- + Added the feature to assign a separate bitmap for any dialog.
-
- - If user answered "No" to the question "Replace a file by the earlier version?",
- the common installation indicator displayed the incorrect data.
-
- - If in a dialog sequence there was no DLG_DIR dialog, in parameter
- DefaultInstallPath were not processed variables.
-
-
- Version 1.11 (from 01/10/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- - The common installation progress bar displayed incorrect data if the distribution
- package size was more than 1 MB.
-
-
- Version 1.1 (from 01/06/2000)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- + New installation flags - REGISTER_FONT, DONT_ASK_USER, DONT_OVERWRITE.
-
- - Parameters with empty values were not added to the registry and ini-files.
-
- - While unpacking presetup files no disk space check was made.
-
- * The message window is now scaled depending on the text width.
-
- - In Windows NT the "Choose language" dialog only the standard language of
- operation system was normally displayed, but other languages were displayed
- by "?" symbols.
-
- * The minimal step of the installation indicator is about 1 KB now (instead
- one file, as it was earlier).
-
- + The installation indicator of a separate file was added.
-
- + New variables: SourcePath, Presetup, BootDrive.
-
- + Added feature of using masks in files copy section (there are some restrictions,
- see Manual.txt).
-
- + The feature of running external applications was added.
-
- * While defining variables (section Variables in the Gins.ini) it's possible to use
- other variables with any level of an enclosure.
-
- + Was added the feature to check, whether the user has administrator rights on the
- target computer.
-
- - The uninstaller was not deleting .pif shortcuts.
-
-
- Version 1.0 (from 12/20/1999)
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- First published version.
-