Do you have to close all versions of Paratext in order ot update one version?

Question

I just started PT8 and it wants to update. But first it says “Please close instances of Paratext before …”. The only one open is PT 7.6. Does 7.6 really need to be closed when the update that wants to run is only for v8?

Answer 1

Yes, you must close any other Paratext (7 or 8)

Comments

I thought that PT7 and PT8 were completely separate installations – at least, I can see that they are in separate folders. If it’s easy to explain, then why does updating one need the other to be closed?

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When you do File>Open resources there is a Show Paratext 7 projects check box. If you click that you can see and migrate projects from Paratext 7. So at least for migration Paratext 8 is aware of Paratext 7 and I am guessing it hooks into Paratext 7 for that and perhaps other functions.

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CrazyRocky:

you can see and migrate projects from Paratext 7.

Oh, I thought that feature used the PT server and searched for projects that you’re a user of. I thought this feature would work even if you didn’t have PT7 installed locally at all.

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wdavidhj:

If it’s easy to explain, then why does updating one need the other to be closed?

The reason is that the installer checks if Paratext is still before it does the installation. We chose to do the simplest thing and look at the programs for one called “Paratext.exe”. However, this catches both PT7 and PT8 because they are both named the same. This is the only reason why you need to close both to install an update. PT8 does not have any hooks into PT7 - it has its own PT7-reading code (just enough to find the projects and do a migration).

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So, If I renamed 7.6’s paratext.exe to paratext7.exe and similarly for PT8, would I be able to update one without closing the other? Would the name cahnge cause other problems?

Don’t worry, I’m not that desperate to fix this, but I’m just interested whether it would work in theory.

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Yes, renaming them should allow you to update without having to close them. Possible problems are the following:

1. Obviously, it would break any existing links to the file (e.g. in the Start Menu or on the Desktop).
2. It would also keep the installer from being able to make sure that Paratext was shut down before doing the install.
3. It might break the uninstall process (the file might not be deleted) depending on what the Microsoft Installer does in that case (it might just delete the entire directory, regardless).
4. It might break RegexPal when run stand-alone, outside of Tools > Advanced inside Paratext (I can’t remember how that works).