Re: [Mingw-users] Installer downloads old versions despite selecting candidate versions?

[Dave M. <win...@nt...>]

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on vacation recently and some other 
RL things have demanded my attention.

Keith MARSHALL wrote:
> Perhaps Dave Murphy, who provided the current 5.0.0 version of the
> installer, would like to comment on the apparent download of less recent
> than latest candidate packages, when this option is selected?  I suspect
> that the list of candidate releases to download is hard coded in the
> installer, and the newer versions to which you refer are more recent
> than the installer itself.
>
>   
There is an ini file contained within the installer which lists the 
files for each package version. The installer also attempts to download 
this ini file from www.mingw.org where it was intended to keep an 
updated list of the files required. The current section of this file 
contains

[current]
runtime=mingw-runtime-3.9.tar.gz|10003
w32api=w32api-3.6.tar.gz|20818
binutils=binutils-2.15.91-20040904-1.tar.gz|13985
core=gcc-core-3.4.2-20040916-1.tar.gz|8627
gpp=gcc-g++-3.4.2-20040916-1.tar.gz|16542
g77=gcc-g77-3.4.2-20040916-1.tar.gz|5158
ada=gcc-ada-3.4.2-20040916-1.tar.gz|33333
java=gcc-java-3.4.2-20040916-1.tar.gz|45547
objc=gcc-objc-3.4.2-20040916-1.tar.gz|4555
make=mingw32-make-3.80.0-3.tar.gz|1925

this format is simply

<component name>=<tarball>|<extracted size in kb>

In theory is should be possible to autogenerate this file along with the 
mingw downloads page.
 
> Another point you might like to consider, Dave, is that while the
> installer allows the user to select `download only', it then makes no
> apparent provision for completing an installation from such downloaded
> packages; IMO, that is an omission which needs to be remedied.
>   
This aspect of the installer isn't immediately obvious. When you select 
the download and install option it uses any files already downloaded and 
will not download them again. This also allows for installation on a 
machine with no net access by copying the entire directory after the 
"download only" option completes and rerunning the installer from there.

I've recently discovered a newer download plugin for NSIS which 
apparently deals with some issues with firewalls and proxy support that 
the previous one did not. A new build has been uploaded for testing - 
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=539405

Unfortunately it looks like the current downloads page at 
http://www.mingw.org/download.shtml is still having some trouble with 
the new SF format so it doesn't list all the files required. I've 
updated the win32api and mingw runtime versions in the installer's ini 
file but I think the compiler versions need updated as well. Perhaps we 
could host an updated ini file and test the auto update feature.

Some time ago I asked Earnie if it would be reasonable to tag the old 
installer in CVS, delete and replace with the files for this installer 
which he agreed. Unfortunately I don't seem to have CVS access so I 
haven't been able to do that. Would it be possible to obtain access or 
send the files to someone for inclusion in CVS?

Dave