Paratext 7.5 on 32-bit machines

Question

I tried to mark this as a bug report, but that’s not an option. This is a long-standing multifaceted bug that I’ve mentioned before.

1. The base installer for PT 7.5 seems to assume that all machines are 64-bit, and will create a Program Files (x86) if it doesn’t exist and install Paratext there. If one is watching during the install, they can redirect it to Program Files at install time.
2. On XP (people are using some junkers in some projects), PT does not offer to install VCredist 2005, so if you get the xul.dll error, PT doesn’t give an easy method for bypassing it. Installing FLEx alongside is a roundabout way of getting past this, as VCredist is installed by FLEx.

Can you confirm this?

~Matthew_Lee
SIL Cameroon

Answer 1

Matthew_Lee:

The base installer for PT 7.5 seems to assume that all machines are 64-bit, and will create a Program Files (x86) if it doesn’t exist and install Paratext there. If one is watching during the install, they can redirect it to Program Files at install time.

I’m fairly certain that was fixed in the 7.6 installer.

Matthew_Lee:

PT does not offer to install VCredist 2005

I think this was fixed for 7.6 as well.

Also note that we have a completely new installer for 8.0 so there should be fewer issues going forward (or completely new issues ).

Comments

The problem, of course…is that 7.6 is a non-recommended/beta version of Paratext, so the 32-bit fix should have been back-ported to the stable Paratext 7.5 some time in the past year that we were supposed to use it.

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Matthew_Lee:

the 32-bit fix should have been back-ported to the stable Paratext 7.5

Back-porting changes is not free. It costs developer time and we have to weigh that cost with the fact that most people have a 64bit OS so they are not having problems and it’s not actually keeping people from getting their job done.

In other words, I’m sorry to say it wasn’t deemed worthwhile to back-port the change.

Answer 2

I think I also reported a while ago that Paratext 7.5 creates and installs to a Program Files (x86) folder on 32-bit Windows. If I remember correctly, it also gives Read-Write access to Everyone, so it’s a security issue too. The Paratext program could become infected with a virus.