Re: Re-Post 5.5.6 upgrade and customization

[jeremy@xxxxxxxxx (Jeremy H. Griffith)]

On Tue, 20 Oct 1998 09:34:20 -0400, John Pilla <JPILLA@optum.com> wrote:

>Is there an elegant way to preserve menu, toolbar,  and *.cfg file
>customizations while 'upgrading' to 5.5.6 from 5.5.2?
>
>(Win95a)

I don't know if you could call it "elegant" <g>, but here's what
I'd do (and have done in similar situations before).

1. Copy all the modified config files to a matching directory
tree under a different top directory.

2. Do the upgrade to a new directory (always good practice).

3. Test the upgrade with an assortment of your own docs.

4. If all is well, do a WinDiff (or similar) comparison of
the config files, and make sure you understand each change.

5. Copy the unmodified config files from the upgrade that you
intend to change to a matching directory tree under yet
another top directory.

6. Make the specific changes to achieve your desired config to
the upgrade, and test some more.  If you have problems, you
can back out of your changes one by one, referring to those
two saved sets of config files.

>((Since Adobe's version of upgrading is a complete reinstall, vice
>upgrading the applicable files already installed.))  

With some applications, installing over the previous version *may*
result in your configurations being retained.  Even installing
elsewhere may do that; when I installed Office 97, it picked up 
my Office 95 settings, even though I did not overwrite it (and
Office 95 still works too).  Or overwriting may wipe your config
settings instead; there's no real "standard" behavior here.

However, installing over is risky in a couple of ways.  First,
you lose the previous version, which may suddenly become very
important if you have trouble with the new one.  I have Frame
4.0, 5.1, and 5.5.1 installed on the same system currently, and
am glad of it.  (So OK, I haven't *used* 4.0 in a while... ;-)
I have the 5.5.3 CD on hand, and doubtless will buy 5.5.6.
And 6.0, ad infinitum...  With large hard disks so inexpensive,
my previous installations shall remain throughout.

The second install-over risk is that the installer may fail to
install a newer version of some component because it is already
there.  No, install programs do *not* always check versions;
one of the most common *never* does, it just writes over.  You
just don't know what the installer will do, this time, and such
an installer error may be impossible to find (and take up great 
chunks of your time in the process).

I'd stick with the steps I listed above; it may be tedious,
but it's as safe as it gets.  It won't protect you from any
problems caused by the installer putting in newer (or just
different, maybe older) *system* DLLs in your Windows or
Windows\System directories, so the truly paranoid (like me)
would begin with a system backup to tape (or to another hard
disk) so that the registry and system components are all
recoverable in case of disaster.  Just copying your Windows
directory tree elsewhere would help a lot, if you have the
space; you can discard it after you are satisfied with your
test results.

Good luck with the upgrade!  Please let us know how it turns
out; I'm sure many are hovering in indecision about whether
to do it (FM 5.5.6), and every bit of feedback helps...

-- Jeremy H. Griffith, at Omni Systems Inc.
   (jeremy@omsys.com)     http://www.omsys.com/
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