Rollback functionality.

Products

• VMware

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

Rollback functionality.

Resolution

Starting with InstallBuilder 5.1.0, we have introduced a feature that allows the installers to automatically rollback the installed files in case there is an error during installation. The implementation only handles files overwritten by our installers during the files installation step (i.e., all files specified under any of the <folder> sections), so it doesn't support rollback for files overwritten as a result of the execution of actions or scripts.

The rollback feature is enabled by default, you can disable it by setting the project property <enableRollback> to zero ( <enableRollback>0</enableRollback> ).

Also, you can configure the directory where the overwritten files will be stored, by setting the project property <rollbackBackupDirectory> to some path (the default value is ${installdir}/rollbackBackupDirectory). The files will be automatically restored in case the installation failures, but we have decided to create a user-friendly storage approach for the files, so there is a chance for a manual recovery in case the user wants to rollback after a successful installation, or in case the automatic rollback process itself gives an error. That's the reason for the rollbackBackupDirectory folder to remain on disk after installation.

If no files were backed up as a result of the rollback process, the empty rollbackBackupDirectory folder will be automatically deleted after installation, but it will be left on disk if any file was backed up. If you specifically don't want the rollbackBackupDirectory folder to remain on disk after a successful installation, you can delete it during the <postInstallationActionList> using a <deleteFile> action.