Failed updates on Windows.

Question

Hi there,
I develop an Adobe AIR 2.5 application and I'm getting reports from some Windows users that an update to the application is failing to install. Several customers are reporting the following in their log files:
[2011-03-29:11:32:26] Bootstrapper begin with version 2.5.0.16600 on Win x86
[2011-03-29:11:32:27] Installed runtime (2.5.1.17730) located at c:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe AIR
[2011-03-29:11:32:27] Launching subprocess with commandline "Adobe AIR Application Installer.exe" -silent -location "C:\Program Files\Eye-Fi" -programMenu "C:\Users\STEVES~1\AppData\Local\Temp\AIRC5E6.tmp\Eye-Fi Center"
[2011-03-29:11:32:32] Application Installer begin with version 2.5.1.17730 on Windows 7 x86
[2011-03-29:11:32:32] Commandline is: -silent -location "C:\Program Files\Eye-Fi" -programMenu "C:\Users\STEVES~1\AppData\Local\Temp\AIRC5E6.tmp\Eye-Fi Center"
[2011-03-29:11:32:32] Installed runtime (2.5.1.17730) located at c:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe AIR
[2011-03-29:11:32:37] Validating app in folder C:\Users\STEVES~1\AppData\Local\Temp\AIRC5E6.tmp\Eye-Fi Center
[2011-03-29:11:33:00] Application signature verified
[2011-03-29:11:33:00] Unpackaging/validation complete
[2011-03-29:11:33:00] No app located for appID 'fi.eye.center' and pubID 'E430518E652B889A80EC0E8A6E532C09FF36DF62.1'
[2011-03-29:11:33:00] Starting silent app installation to C:\Program Files\Eye-Fi. Installing app fi.eye.center.E430518E652B889A80EC0E8A6E532C09FF36DF62.1 version 3.2.19 using the source file at file:///C:/Users/STEVES~1/AppData/Local/Temp/AIRC5E6.tmp/Eye-Fi%20Center
[2011-03-29:11:33:00] Got an unexpected fatal error while in stateInstalling: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="Unhandled exception Error: App already exists" errorID=5007]
[2011-03-29:11:33:00] Application Installer end with exit code 7
[2011-03-29:11:33:00] Subprocess Application Installer failed (7)
[2011-03-29:11:33:00] Bootstrapper end with exit code 7
From the log files, it appears that the installer failed because there's an existing Eye-Fi Center application at c:\Program Files\Eye-Fi. However, the following log entry seems to suggest that there isnt:
[2011-03-29:11:33:00] No app located for appID 'fi.eye.center' and pubID 'E430518E652B889A80EC0E8A6E532C09FF36DF62.1'
So, there's obviously some discrepency between what the installer believes to be installed and what actually is installed.
Anyone run into this issue before? What is the solution?
Sean

Answer 1

It's encouraging to see more and more openness like this from Adobe. If you had any hand in making this bug tracker visible to Adobe AIR developers, I say thank you very much!
So, getting back to the bug at hand, I tried a few things:
1. Tried to install with a completely fresh directory structure. Everything went fine.
2. Tried to install the AIR application when the directory structure looks like this:
     Program Files\
                              Eye-Fi\
                                             Helper\
                                                            ... bunch of Helper related files under here
                                             Eye-Fi Center
                                                            ... this is an empty directory
   and the installation failed with the following error:
[2011-04-08:07:57:56] Bootstrapper begin with version 2.5.0.16600 on Win x86
[2011-04-08:07:57:56] Installed runtime (2.6.0.18730) located at c:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe AIR
[2011-04-08:07:57:56] Launching subprocess with commandline "Adobe AIR
Application Installer.exe" -silent -location "C:\Program Files\Eye-Fi" -programMenu "C:\Users\irina\AppData\Local\Temp\AIRF736.tmp\Eye-Fi Center"
[2011-04-08:07:57:56] Application Installer begin with version 2.6.0.18730 on Windows 7 x86
[2011-04-08:07:57:56] Commandline is: -silent -location "C:\Program Files\Eye-Fi" -programMenu "C:\Users\irina\AppData\Local\Temp\AIRF736.tmp\Eye-Fi Center"
[2011-04-08:07:57:56] Installed runtime (2.6.0.18730) located at c:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe AIR
[2011-04-08:07:57:57] Validating app in folder C:\Users\irina\AppData\Local\Temp\AIRF736.tmp\Eye-Fi Center
[2011-04-08:07:58:00] Application signature verified
[2011-04-08:07:58:00] Unpackaging/validation complete
[2011-04-08:07:58:00] No app located for appID 'fi.eye.center' and pubID 'E430518E652B889A80EC0E8A6E532C09FF36DF62.1'
[2011-04-08:07:58:00] Starting silent app installation to C:\Program Files\Eye-Fi. Installing app
fi.eye.center.E430518E652B889A80EC0E8A6E532C09FF36DF62.1 version 3.2.20 using the source file at file:///C:/Users/irina/AppData/Local/Temp/AIRF736.tmp/Eye-Fi%20Center
[2011-04-08:07:58:00] Got an unexpected fatal error while in stateInstalling: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="Unhandled exception Error: App already exists" errorID=5007]
[2011-04-08:07:58:00] Application Installer end with exit code 7
[2011-04-08:07:58:01] Subprocess Application Installer failed (7)
[2011-04-08:07:58:01] Bootstrapper end with exit code 7
As you can see, the command we're passing to the installer is results in the application trying to be installed in a c:\Program Files\Eye-Fi\Eye-Fi Center directory. My application descriptor file looks like:
<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.5">
    <id>fi.eye.center</id>
    <filename>Eye-Fi Center</filename>
    <name>
        <text xml:lang="en_US">Eye-Fi Center</text>
        <text xml:lang="en_GB">Eye-Fi Centre</text>
        <text xml:lang="fr_CA">Eye-Fi Center</text>
        <text xml:lang="fr_FR">Eye-Fi Center</text>
        <text xml:lang="ja_JP">Eye-Fi Center</text>
        <text xml:lang="de_DE">Eye-Fi Center</text>
    </name>
    <versionNumber>1</versionNumber>
    <description>
        <text xml:lang="en_US">Eye-Fi Center</text>
        <text xml:lang="en_GB">Eye-Fi Centre</text>
        <text xml:lang="fr_CA">Eye-Fi Center</text>
        <text xml:lang="fr_FR">Eye-Fi Center</text>
        <text xml:lang="ja_JP">Eye-Fi Center</text>
        <text xml:lang="de_DE">Eye-Fi Center</text>
    </description>
    <supportedProfiles>extendedDesktop desktop</supportedProfiles>
    <copyright>Copyright 2007-2011 Eye-Fi, Inc. All Rights Reserved.</copyright>
    <installFolder>Eye-Fi</installFolder>
    <programMenuFolder>Eye-Fi</programMenuFolder>
So, it kinda looks like the presence of an empty subdirectory called 'Eye-Fi Center' in the c:\Program Files\Eye-Fi could be making the installer think that Eye-Fi Center is already installed.
Any thoughts on how best to resolve this issue?
Thanks again
Sean