Trouble with File Element for my MSIX

[jmjaffe37]

Hello, I have been stuck on this issue for a little while now and I am unsure how to proceed. For context, I am working on an opensource tool that is used to create installer files for JAVA for Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

This repo is adoptium/installer and we want it to be able to produce MSIX files in addition to MSIs. In the past, I updated it from WiX v3 to WiX v5, and it is currently on version 5.0.2 (although it seems to be compliant with WiX 6.0.0 in my testing. The changes I've made can be found on my fork here (each of the 25+ commits is a different attempt at getting MSIX to build with WiX):

I am following the FireGiant documentation (and the FireGiant/WiX Schema docs) to attempt to get the initial mvp for MSIX creation, but I keep getting an error saying that it cannot find the file that I've specified as part of the Explicit Application definition section instructions.

When installing our Java package, it installs in the folder Program Files/<VENDOR>/hotspot/jdk-<VERSION>. If I understand MSIX correctly, I need to tell it that our package's launch file is at bin/java.exe within the install directory. In my latest attempts, I added the bin directory as a dir that can be referenced elsewhere:

      <StandardDirectory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
        <Directory Id="PRODUCTMANUFACTURER" Name="$(var.ProductManufacturer)">
          <Directory Id="INSTALLDIR" Name="$(var.AppFolder)">
            <Directory Id="INSTALLDIRBIN" Name="bin" />
          </Directory>
        </Directory>
      </StandardDirectory>

Then, I created the MsixComponent component within a DirectoryRef Element:

    <DirectoryRef Id="INSTALLDIRBIN">
      <Component Id="MsixComponent">
        <File Id="JavaExeFile" Name="java.exe">
          <msix:Application Id="OpenJDKApplication" />
        </File>
      </Component>
    </DirectoryRef>

And lastly, I added a feature that adds the MsixComponent component:

    <Feature Id="MsixFeature" Level="1" ConfigurableDirectory="INSTALLDIRBIN"
      AllowAdvertise="no" InstallDefault="local">
      <ComponentRef Id="MsixComponent" />
    </Feature>

I am unsure what I could do that I haven't tried in my 25+ attempts so far, so any and all advice would be greatly appreciated! I am hoping that I overlooked something simple and obvious haha.

Note: I am not committed to using this structure and I am very open to trying another approach (ie: like including this new component in the 1 existing feature that existed before these changes). Also, this is just a hardcoded first draft (I plan to parameterize and cleanup this code once I get the MSIX creation working). Thank you!

[jmjaffe37]

Here is the error that I recieved:

<Path/to/Main.wxs>(232) : error WIX0103: Cannot find the File file 'java.exe'. The following paths were checked: java.exe

[robmen]

error WIX0103: Cannot find the File file 'java.exe'. The following paths were checked: java.exe

That error indicates that the file java.exe cannot be found on disk. A path that resolves to the file is required so it can be included in your installation package. For that reason, I recommend using the Source attribute instead of the Name attribute, so you can provide a more complete path. Only use the Name attribute when the installed filename must be different than the source filename.

[jmjaffe37]

Thanks @robmen! I actually found your tutorial series on YouTube and it helped me figure out the gap in my knowledge: Directory and File tags refer to "where files end up" and the attributes refer to "where they come from." I was also couldn't find the variable that this tool used for source files (ie before packaging) that can go within a Source attribute's value. Here is the code that ended up working for me:

    <DirectoryRef Id="INSTALLDIR">
      <Directory Id="INSTALLDIRBIN" Name="bin" >
        <Component Id="MsixComponent">
          <File Id="JavaExeFile" Source="$(var.ReproDir)\bin\java.exe" >
            <msix:Application Id="OpenJDKApplication" />
          </File>
        </Component>
      </Directory>
      ...

[robmen]

Cool.

I've reopened the discussion. We keep them open so they are easier to search for in the future.

[jmjaffe37]

Thanks! Also, I unfortunately did not realize that a FireGiant license is needed for WiX MSIX development. I could not find any mention of licenses given out to opensource community projects (this work is for the main, opensource Java installer/package creation tool that is run by Eclipse/Adoptium), so it seems like we may need to find another solution since we do not currently have a license 😔