Large delta when only changing version number

[joshua-redmond]

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Delta file's are 25MB in size.

This started happening about a 4 months ago and I don't think i changed anything

To reproduce download https://github.com/Mike-Wood/electron-winstaller-delta-size-test

Run: npm install

1. Run: node createInstaller.js
2. And: node compressWin.js

Then in the installers/win folder there will be an executable.

Now update the version in package.json

Repeat steps 1 and 2

In installers/win there will now be a 25MB delta file

[joshua-redmond]

I just tried it again with the newest version of electron-packager and still does not work.

Something I forgot to include is If I manually replace the files under resources/app/ then the delta's are a good size

Could somebody please look into this?

[joshua-redmond]

Hello? Is anybody going to pay attention to this bug?

[bsclifton]

@Mike-Wood after you build the installer, what happens if you delete the files that were created? If I had to guess, that installer directory is also being packaged. You might want to add an entry in your .gitignore for installers

[joshua-redmond]

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean by "what happens if you delete the files that were created?" but I made sure that the installer directory is not being packaged. I forgot to do that with the test case I provided

[bsclifton]

@Mike-Wood that is exactly what I meant- basically running git status and deleting anything that shows up as not included in the project (ex: run a git clean -f).

If you bump the version, commit... then destroy the folder and re-clone/re-run packaging, you don't have the problem, right?

[joshua-redmond]

What folder are you talking about when you say "then destroy the folder" do you mean the entire project? Because if I have to do that every time it's still a bug.

[bsclifton]

@Mike-Wood I'm not disagreeing that it's a bug- I'm trying to help narrow it down.

It sounds like the packaging process is including previous packages (or other resources). This is proven by the fact you can destroy everything (by this, I mean whatever project it is you're trying to build) and re-cloning the repo you want to build an installer for and building an installer. For example:

git clone [email protected]:Mike-Wood/electron-winstaller-delta-size-test.git
cd electron-winstaller-delta-size-test
## do the build here
cd ../
rm -rf electron-winstaller-delta-size-test
git clone [email protected]:Mike-Wood/electron-winstaller-delta-size-test.git
cd electron-winstaller-delta-size-test
## increment version
## do build again; it shouldn't be large

So the problem isn't incrementing the version. It's building the installer more than once

[joshua-redmond]

Yes I can delete the code and copy it back and it will still make large deltas

[devtobo]

I have the same issue, happened in July for me.

[Valantir007]

I have the same issue...

[baconbrad]

Same issue here. 53.9 meg project gets a 30.6 meg delta for just a few lines of code changed. Sometimes I get a few hundred KBs or 15 meg delta file but a majority of the time it rides around 30 megs.

[guillaumejenkins]

I am having the same issue. Looking inside the -delta.nupkg, the full [app name].exe is there, which is 47 MB for me. That accounts for 99.9% of the size of my unzipped -delta.nupkg.

@bsclifton is there some log file I can attach that might help investigate why the full .exe is included?

[baconbrad]

I have found electron-packager to be the culprit. It is creating a new executable with a different hash. As a result Squirrel.Windows thinks the whole file changed. Copying my old exe into my app directory and doing the install creation process produced a tiny delta file. So the fix for me is reworking my build script.

[adabru]

I think this issue is a duplicate of https://github.com/electron/windows-installer/issues/185 and can be closed.