Hi FME'ers,

Have you ever - as I have - wondered why some software installers are different?

For example, some software is just a standalone file that runs by itself without installation; some have an installer that simply installs the software to a specific location; some ask you to extract the installation files first; and others install a manager that then downloads and installs the actual software.

Well this week I found out a few secrets about installers, and that happened because I discovered that the FME Desktop installer is changing for Windows in 2021.

Current vs New Installer

The current FME Desktop installer is a .msi file that simply installs FME where you want. The new installer will be a .exe file that first asks you to extract the contents to a temporary folder. It's a "bootstrapping" technique, to use the technical term. The process extracts the installation files and then automatically runs them.

But this technique adds an extra step in the installation process, so why do it? Well, a .msi file has a size limit of 2GB, and Desktop is rapidly approaching that limit. So we're pretty much forced to change direction to ensure we can still deliver FME!

But there are a few benefits of taking the bootstrapping approach...

New Installer Benefits

Firstly, whenever you install software, you need to be able to uninstall it. To do that Windows needs a copy of the original .msi file, which it stores automatically in a system directory. In other words, the old installation method uses up an extra 2GB of disk space, storing this file. The new installation method doesn't need to do this. Benefit: less disk space used.

Secondly, there will now be fewer "UAC prompts". UAC stands for User Account Control. Its prompts are those dialogs that pop up occasionally asking you for permission to continue. Currently you can get up to three prompts during the installation process: to get permission to run the installer, to uninstall the old FME, and to install the new one. With the new setup you'll only get one pop-up when you start the installer. Benefit: fewer interruptions.

Finally, the new technique allows us to write a log file as we carry out the FME installation. The old technique only allowed that when run from the command line. Benefit: more information available.

Summary

So, keep an eye out for this new type of installer when you try out a 2021 beta. It'll be a slightly different look than before (if for no other reason than we can now also add a custom icon to the installer file) but it should be a smoother overall process.