Service Release extraction

[SBarnes]

Is there a way to extract the files from a service release msp file?

[Mike.Sheen]

Is there a way to extract the files from a service release msp file?

MSP's don't actually contain files, just binary differences which are to be applied to existing files.

[SBarnes]

So that means there is no way of getting the REST API plugin out of the IIS zip file without applying the MSP, correct?

[Mike.Sheen]

So that means there is no way of getting the REST API plugin out of the IIS zip file without applying the MSP, correct?

I'm not going to say there is no way, there might be but it's beyond my interest in finding out!

The known way is, as you say, install the msp and then you can get the patched REST API plugin from the JiwaAPI.zip IIS package file in the Jiwa installation folder. Or, if you're special enough, you can obtain it from our source repo.

[Scott.Pearce]

Oddly enough, I had to do this today. Below is my process:


Extracting files from MSPs

When it comes to extracting files from MSPs, it works a bit differently than it would for MSIs. With an MSI file, all you need to do is use the 7zip file extractor, but MSP files depend on the base MSI installation packages.

Since MSP benefits from msiexec commands, we can use the administrative install parameter to say where to extract the content. However, we need to take into consideration the base MSI dependency. So, we need to perform three separate actions:

1. Extract the base MSI from Setup.exe.
Create folder "C:\FolderInWhichMSIWillBeExtracted". Open an administrative command prompt, CD to where Setup.exe is, and run the command:

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Setup.exe /extract "C:\FolderInWhichMSIWillBeExtracted\"

A bunch of files used to install Jiwa will now be in c:\FolderInWhichMSIWillBeExtracted including Setup.msi.


2. Extract the files from the base MSI.
CD to "C:\FolderInWhichMSIWillBeExtracted\" and then run the command:

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msiexec /a Setup.msi TARGETDIR="c:\FolderInWhichMSIWillBeExtracted\extracted" /qb

If prompted to reboot, choose no. The above command does not install Jiwa but will instead extract the contents of Setup.msi to a folder called c:\FolderInWhichMSIWillBeExtracted\extracted (the "extracted" sub-folder will be created if it doesn't already exist).


3. Patch the files extracted from the base MSI using the MSP
To do that, CD to where your msp file is, and then execute the following command line:

msiexec /p Jiwa7.2.1.0.SR15.msp /a "c:\FolderInWhichMSIWillBeExtracted\extracted\Setup.msi" /qb

If prompted to reboot, choose no. After you execute the last command, you can navigate to the c:\FolderInWhichMSIWillBeExtracted\extracted folder and get the patch files from there.


We currently use Advanced Installer to build our installation packages and I find their website full of good information. I pinched a few of the above steps from their blog post here. I also find their forums useful for installer-based questions.

[SBarnes]

Thanks Scott worked a treat

[pricerc]

Or export/copy the plugin from a machine with the MSP installed and load that into the target system?

[Mike.Sheen]

Or export/copy the plugin from a machine with the MSP installed and load that into the target system?

That's the simple, obvious way - but it's not always convenient to install on a machine.

[SBarnes]

And the whole point of the original question.