WiX v6.0.0-rc.1

Author: barnson

src/content/docs/wix/releasenotes.md

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+## WiX v6 prerelease
+
+WiX v6 is the second annual release since WiX v4. WiX v6 continues in the tradition of being intentionally highly compatible with its predecessor WiX v5—and by the transitive property of backward compatibility, with WiX v4 too. WiX v6 contains a number of fixes and enhancements of existing features, including those newly introduced in WiX v5. Notable examples include:
+
+| Issue | Description |
+| ----- | ----------- |
+| [8101](https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/8101) | Add PerUserProgramFilesFolder standard directory for per-user packages and use it as the root of the default INSTALLFOLDER. |
+| [8577](https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/8577) | Create local and domain user groups. In WiX v5 and before, you could _reference_ existing groups | 
+| [8584](https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/8584) | Replace upgrade code GUIDs with human-readable strings. The `Package` and `Bundle` elements now have an `Id` attribute that turns a human-readable string into the equivalent of an upgrade code GUID. You need to provide a value that identifies the "product family," just like it were an old-school upgrade code GUID. But `WixToolset.CommandLineTools.Package` is certainly easier to think about than `{2e85dc76-769f-46d2-82a7-46cb3a0c9d50}`, I think you'd agree. |
+| [8663](https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/8663) | Allow component GUIDs for registry keys to be compatible with those created in WiX v3. Something we discovered while helping a FireGiant customer is that there's a scenario where a generated component GUID for a registry value changed in WiX v4. That same thing happened in WiX v3 (for different reasons), which is why the `-bcgg` (backward-compatible GUID generation) command-line switch was born. Well, now it's back, if you need to maintain the generated v3 GUID. | 
+| [8718](https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/8718), [8580](https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/8580) | Reduce the use of custom actions in WixUI to minimize the [amount of extra work necessary to work around platform-specific custom actions](https://docs.firegiant.com/wix/fourthree/faqs/#converting-custom-wixui-dialog-sets). The custom action to print the EULA—for those who not only _read_ the EULA but print a copy for their records—was entirely replaced by built-in MSI functionality. Similarly, the "extra" checking on paths done by custom action is now done with built-in functionality, though you can opt in to the old functionality using `ExtendedPathValidation="yes"` on the `WixUI` element. | 
+| [8913](https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/8913) | Using Heat now shows a deprecation warning. It's still present and works with WiX v6, mostly by nature of the WiX v6 language not changing. But we plan to remove Heat in WiX v7, so this serves as eviction notice. | https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/ |
+| [8914](https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/8914) | Lock files extracted from Burn bundles as additional mitigation against attacks. No protection is perfect but locking files as read-only helps prevent malware from overwriting temporary files used during bundle installation. | 
+
+
+### WiX v6 releases
+
+- WiX v6.0.0-rc.1 was published 12-Feb-2025.
+
+
 ## WiX v5
 
 WiX v5 marks the first of our annual releases. We intentionally made WiX v5 highly compatible with WiX v4. Most users can simply switch to WiX v5 with no code changes. (There are some exceptions, naturally.) Here's a list of some notable changes, mostly new features to make your package experience with WiX more pleasant: