Disk Space Check

[#1]

Summary

Installers built with InstallAnywhere run native commands in order to calculate the amount of free disk space on the target machine. On many non-Windows operating systems, the "df" command is used to check the available space. Because of the huge variety of return output from "df", InstallAnywhere will occasionally fail to parse the output appropriately. If this happens, InstallAnywhere may believe there is not enough free disk space and may not allow the users to install.

Synopsis

Installers built with InstallAnywhere run native commands in order to calculate the amount of free disk space on the target machine. On many non-Windows operating systems, the "df" command is used to check the available space. Because of the huge variety of return output from "df", InstallAnywhere will occasionally fail to parse the output appropriately. If this happens, InstallAnywhere may believe there is not enough free disk space and may not allow the users to install.

Discussion

There are two control mechanisms for the Check Disk Space action in InstallAnywhere. The first method is using the VariableManager by setting the InstallAnywhere variable "CHECK_DISK_SPACE". Setting it to "OFF" (note that capital letters are required) will force the installer not to run the action under any circumstances. Setting it to "FORCE" will force the action to run under all circumstances. Using these two settings, the VariableManager has preemptive control over whether the action is run or not. The second method of changing whether or not the action is run is considered irrelevant in this case. Not setting the variable or setting it to anything other than "OFF" or "FORCE" will relinquish the VariableManager's control to the second method.

The second control method is to use the PropertyManager. By setting an environment variable named "CHECK_DISK_SPACE" to "ON", and making sure its status in the environment will be accessible to subprocesses, the installer will be forced to run the Check Disk Space action as long as it has not been preempted by the VariableManager. Setting the environment variable to "OFF" will force the install to assume there is sufficient disk space and not run the action, again under the same rules of preemption.

Please be aware that the environment variable and the InstallAnywhere variable are expected to be in capital letters as are any of the expected values.

For example, when CheckDiskSpace does NOT run, whether turned off by the VariableManager or the PropertyManager, it will print the message:

"CDS: assuming sufficient disk space (X)"

Where X is one of the following characters: V,P,E,0.

The phrase "the action was shut off" is equivalent to "assuming sufficient disk space"

V = the action was shut off by the VariableManager (the developer)
P = the action was shut off by the PropertyManager (the end-user)
E = the action was shut off because of an exception caught by the action
0 = the action was shut off because the VolumeManager returned a value that denoted disk space as having less than 1 byte available.

Additional Information

Some further notes about setting the environment variables:

• On MacOS, since there is no equivalent to an environment variable the PropertyManager method is ignored. The only way to control the action is through the IA Designer by setting the InstallAnywhere variable.
• On Windows the simplest way to utilize the Environment Variable method is to open a Command Prompt and type the following:

  C:\> set CHECK_DISK_SPACE=OFF

  (or "ON", as needed). Then the installer should be run from this window (i.e. in the same "scope").
• On UNIX in csh/tcsh set the variable this way:

  % setenv CHECK_DISK_SPACE OFF

  (or ON, as needed) and run the installer within that shell.
• On UNIX in sh/ksh/bash set the variable this way:

  $ export CHECK_DISK_SPACE=OFF

  (or ON, as needed) and run the installer within that shell.