Setup: lesson learned and suggestion

[Dameron, Gregg]

Running setup.exe version 2.427 on Windows 2000.

When the option "Install from Local Directory" is selected, the screen titled "Select Local Package Directory" prompts the user as follows:

     Select a directory where you want Setup to store the installation files it
     downloads.  The directory will be created if it does not already exist.

The prompt didn't (doesn't) make sense in the context of a local directory install.  The first few times I ran it, I interpreted this prompt to mean "select a directory where you want Setup to store the installation files it _generates_".  I took it to mean (1) Setup needed a place to write installation log files; and (2) I would be prompted later for the directory containing all the packages I downloaded (or else Setup had already found them).  Consequently, I gave Setup a path to a new directory and picked Next.  Setup died with the infamous Application Error dialog, stating:

     The instruction at "0x00485fbd" referenced memory at "0x00000000".
     The memory could not be "written".

[FYI - the setup logs showed nothing unusual, post-mortem.  I did notice that new (mostly empty) cygwin registry entries were created.]

A few false starts later, I figured out what Setup wanted; namely, the directory where I had placed all the downloaded packages.  They installed without incident.

My suggestion is twofold:  First, I'd change the prompt to make it more context-appropriate.  Second, I'd handle an honest mistake (like mine) a bit more gracefully.

Regards,
Gregg Dameron