6 replies to this topic

[peterc]

My application requires the following mfc42.dll, msvcirt.dll, msvcp60.dll, msvcrt.dll and atl.dll. It will be installed on Windows 98, Windows NT4, Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003. Should those dlls be installed by my application at all or it will depend on which OS? I ask because I believe some of them are system dlls and they are protected files in some OS.

Thank you for any help.

[Stefan Krueger]

Yes you need to condition these depending on OS.

[peterc]

Hi Stefan,

Thank you for your reply. Installshield Dev Studio 9 includes many InstallScript Objects and Merge Modules. If I use those objects such as MFC Runtime and/or msm instead of adding those files myself, do I still to install those objects and/or msm based on different OS or this is automatically taken care by the InstallShield? Is MFC Runtime InstallScript Object redistributable?

My application requires mfc42.dll, msvcirt.dll, msvcp60.dll, msvcrt.dll and atl.dll because my application includes Crystal Reports 8.5 runtimes files for Crystal Reports Automation Server. I believe I cannot use the Crystal Reports 8.5 InstallScript Object or Merge Module that came with InstallShield since I need Crystal Reports 8.5 SP1.


Thank you,

Peter

[Stefan Krueger]

The objects and merge modules are supposed to take care of this automatically and should be used if available.

[peterc]

Hi Stefan,

I'm not sure whether I should ask this in here or not.

If I understand correctly, many Microsoft files are not distributable or not redistributable. For those files, how does an end-user obtain them? I guess the end-user can get those files by the following ways:

1. installed by OS, service packs, hotfixes, security patches, updates
2. installed by other MS products
3. installed by an non-MS products using msm provided by Microsoft
4. installed by an non-MS products using files obtained from special MS exe such as VCRedist.exe provided by Microsoft
5. installed by an non-MS products using msm provided by installation authoring tools such as InstallShield
6. installed by an non-MS products using objects supplied by installation authoring tools such as InstallScript Objects in InstallShield

Is my guess correct?

BTW, what is the difference between "not distributable" and "not redistributable"?

Thank you for your help,

Peter

[Stefan Krueger]

I don't know what "not distributable" would mean. I only know "not redistributable" which means that your customer has to obtain them directly from Microsoft, and you are not allowed to include them in your setup. In any case you need a license to redistribute those files that are redistributable. Visual Studio for instalce includes such a license for the MFC runtime files.
File that are included in downloadable merge modules are usually redistributable - if you have the required license, e.g. you own Visual Studio.
For non-redistributable files (such as DCOM98 for instance) your users must either use Windows Update or download them from microsoft.com.

[peterc]

Hi Stefan,

If I understand you correctly, even though there are downloadable merge modules from MS or supplied merge modules from InstallShield or other tools, I still need the required license in order to use those msm to redistribute the files. Since my company subscribes to MSDN Universal, I believe we have the required license.

BTW, where is a good place to understand about msm?


Thank you,

Peter