Today's meeting was longer than we've had recently because we got to discuss seven issues and then got to try our hands as critics of graphic design.
Feature 4818 | WebDirProperties Element (Iis Extension) does not allow to configure FormsAuthentication is a feature request for a new switch for configuring IIS Web sites. As it's additive, we opened it in WiX v3.x.
Bug 4819 | WIX 3.9 compatibility Issue reported an error using Orca to merge a merge module, which worked with WiX v3.5 but not with WiX v3.9. Because validation data changed between those two versions, a conflict is expected. Orca, regardless of heritage, is not a WiX tool, so we closed this bug.
Feature 4821 | Add preprocessor variable with WiX version requests new preprocessor variables to support conditional compilation based on the version of WiX being used at the time. WiX already supports this at a coarse level using Wix/@RequiredVersion so we requested follow-up with a more detailed example to see if it's something we want to support going forward.
Feature 4822 | Ability to install prerequisites without adding entry in ARP is a request for an often-requested feature: To not write an ARP entry for a bundle for permanent pre-requisite packages like .NET Framework. Today, an ARP entry is written to handle caching and reboots, among other things. This isn't a small or easy change but we're considering it because of how often it comes up. (Note: This is not the also-often-requested "fire and forget" bootstrapper. That's a whole 'nother kettle of fish.) This feature needs a strong design and a thorough WIP.
Bug 4823 | Cancelling an uninstall process at a certain time launches MSI's install UI sequence is a fascinating bug report that, in the end, is expected behavior due to the use of the occasionally-wonky MsiPackage/@DisplayInternalUI attribute. We resolved the bug suspend because there's no way to enforce a requirement that a MsiPackage/@DisplayInternalUI package could be installed silently, something that mostly defeats the purpose of MsiPackage/@DisplayInternalUI.
Bug 4824 | Certificate Bridging not working reports an inability to get UAC Patching working when creating a patch using the MSI SDK PatchWiz/MsiMsp tools. It's a complicated topic and we requested more information on wix-users to help narrow down the problem, with a few bets against it being a WiX bug.
Feature 4825 | Add .NET Trace Logging Capability to the .NET Tools in the WiX Tool Chain is a feature request to add additional logging in the core WiX tools. After some discussion and my Skype client crashing, consensus was that we needed to figure out what additional data is useful to log. Then we can figure out the best way to log it. The former could be done in WiX v3.x but any change in how diagnostic messages are logged would be v4.0-only.
New logo proposals
Those very cool folks at FireGiant commissioned a designer to take a shot at redesigning the WiX logo. Take a look at the recording to get the details of what we asked the designer to do and to see the draft logos.
WiX v3.10 status
No change. Visual Studio 2015 will be released next Monday. We assigned no new bugs to WiX v3.10 today. We're still on target for a release in August, which is a great accomplishment though recently others have done a slightly better job of meeting schedules and making important discoveries.