Update to how to integrate hotfixes...

[GreenMachine]

The /integrate switch. Perhaps it should be called the /xpcreate switch? I have seen some of those ideas before ...

If you look at the article linked to in the first post of this thread, there is both the "new" method, /integrate, and the manual method, as in steps 6 through 13. The /integrate switch basically automates this procedure. What will happen when two of these fixes replace the same files, and then are installed out of order, remains to be seen. The questions are:

• Which version is in the source.
  
• Which version is present at run time.
  
• Which order are they listed in SVCPACK.INF.
  

As for using the new update.exe with the old hotfixes, I would be surprised if it works. It would depend if they made a generic inf file parser that is backwards compatible for the hotfixes.

As for the long file names, that is a error in design of the hotfix, not the hotfix installer. Much as I hate 8.3, I still use it as a rule in all that concerns the system, and all the files XPCREATE creates for the installation. I wonder how that question will be addressed ...

A step in the right direction? Perhaps. One thing I can say for sure, is that given the same source files and hotfixes, XPCREATE will produce a CD distribution that is faster to install, and smaller on the CD, and has more file version integrity than the /integrate switch version.

[neophyte]

Hrm. All post SP2 updates appear to have version 5.5.x of update.exe.

To note - express updates cannot be integrated.

[RyanVM]

Hrm. All post SP2 updates appear to have version 5.5.x of update.exe.

To note - express updates cannot be integrated.

Seems logical.