Rob Mensching's Blog - page 5

WiX

Let's Code - WiX: Bad filenames

For the longest time, the bulk of the WiX Toolset was developed on "WiX Nights". One night a week a bunch of us would hang out at my house or (later) in a meeting room at Microsoft, eat dinner and write some code. It was a great way to maintain momentum but it was terrible at including those that were not physically present.

I just finished watching the Windows 10 Creators Update announcement. My first thought was "Win10 CU" which I immediately read as "Windows 10 Cumulative Update". But we already knew that every Win10 release is a cumulative update. So what did we learn today. Here's some of my initial thoughts.

WiX

WiX Toolset v3.10.3 Released

Today we release WiX Toolset v3.10.3. If you already installed v3.10.3 release candidate then you are already up to date. No need to do anything. Otherwise, we highly recommend upgrading to v3.10.3 to get the latest security fix and bug fixes rolled up. Seriously. Upgrade to this release as soon as possible.

WiX

WiX v3.10.3 Release Candidate

Today we released what we hope is the final release candidate for WiX v3.10.3. We also hope this is the final release in the WiX v3.10 saga completely. The focus of this release was to address the failure to load GDI+ in BootstrapperApplications. If you have a WinForms based BA this fix is for you. We also addressed a couple regressions from WiX v3.10.2 so if you have WiX v3.10.2, this release is for you. Finally, if you were waiting for any reason to upgrade from WiX v3.6, v3.7, v3.8, v3.9, v3.10, v3.10.1 then this release is for you too. In other words, if you're using the WiX Toolset, I highly recommend testing this release. It has all the security and bug fixes rolled up together.

Today the WiX Toolset joins the .NET Foundation. That means we will be moving from the Outercurve Foundation which has supported us over the last few years to join the many active .NET Foundation projects. Just like our first move from Microsoft to Outercurve this was a work in progress for a long time. So just like back then, let me walk through why we're doing this now and what changes.

I'm one of those people that prefers music published as part of an album. But I'm told the world is moving towards music as a subscription and albums are rapidly becoming a relic of the past. So at the beginning of this year I signed up for a Spotify subscription. I canceled that subscription last week. Here's why.

WiX

WiX Toolset has a New Committer

Today it is my pleasure to announce that Sean Hall joins Bob Arnson and I as a committer for the WiX Toolet. This promotion is recognition of all the work Sean does for the WiX Toolset. Today Sean also becomes a part of WiX Toolset history as the first committer that never worked at Microsoft.

Engineering

Black hole for Referrer Spam

After the kids go to bed, I listen to NPR podcasts while cleaning up the house before getting back to work. Tonight I heard a story about a computer program used to trap telemarketers that made me laugh. The whole thing got me thinking about an old idea I had for dealing with referer spam.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/5740471915/