Am 02.09.2018 um 05:34 schrieb Kenneth:

>>>> I'm still just a little confused about this: I have an older 3.7.1 beta
>>>> release...
>>>>              3.7.1-beta.4+msvc14.win64
> 
>>> - How do you install it into "an existing 3.7.0 [installation]"?
>>
> 
> Well, from looking at Github, I see that beta4 is/was indeed a 'complete'
> install, not a simple drop-in 'pvengine'. I have no idea how I actually obtained
> *just* the engine itself-- I must have downloaded and installed the complete
> package, then 'extracted' the engine file to use (with 3.7.0) while discarding
> the rest, in some fit of madness or ignorance. :-O  But it works, strangely (or
> *appears* to!)

I've just taken a few minutes to dig a bit deeper, and it seems that
binaries can be used in three different modes:

(A) Stand-alone - in this mode, the binary maintains its own registry
entry and has its own support files.

(B) Piggyback - in this mode, the binary shares both the registry entry
and support files with another binary.

(C) Semi-Piggyback - in this mode, the binary maintains its own registry
entry but shares support files with another binary.

Only modes (A) and (B) are really intentional, with (A) being the
intended mode if the binaries are from different "generations" or one is
a beta and the other isn't, and (B) being the intended mode for alpha
releases.


Mode (C) _can_ indeed be achieved by dropping a "raw" binary into an
existing installation that differs in "generation" and/or beta status,
_if_ no version of same "generation" and beta status is currently
installed. (If such a version is installed, the dropped-in binary will
enter into mode (B) with that version, despite the binary being located
elsewhere.)

There is one very big caveat to this however: This will totally screw up
any subsequent proper installation of the dropped-in version (or any
other version of same generation and beta status); such a subsequent
installation will fail to enter mode (A), and continue to share support
files with that other installation, while its own support files will lie
dormant.

Uninstalling and re-installing would probably solve this problem.


Another thing worth mentioning in this context is that the location of a
binary doesn't matter at all - except in the process to enter mode (C).
During normal operation, a binary will find its support files through
the registry, not through its own location.

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