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| 1 # Install Static Library |
| 2 |
| 3 The install_static library for Windows contains the minimum functionality to |
| 4 determine the fundamental properties of Chrome's installation plus various |
| 5 installation-related utility functions. It has no dependencies beyond |
| 6 kernel32.dll and version.dll. |
| 7 |
| 8 [TOC] |
| 9 |
| 10 ## Key Concepts |
| 11 |
| 12 * **Brand** (or *branding*): In the abstract, a browser's brand comprises all |
| 13 identifying markings that distinguish it from a browser produced by another |
| 14 party. Chromium has remnants of both the Chromium and Google Chrome brands. |
| 15 |
| 16 * **Mode** (or *install mode*): Each brand defines a primary install mode for |
| 17 the browser. A brand may additionally define one or more secondary install |
| 18 modes (e.g., Google Chrome's SxS mode for the canary channel). Install modes |
| 19 are described by compile-time instantiations of the `InstallConstants` |
| 20 struct in a brand's `kInstallModes` array. |
| 21 |
| 22 * **Google Update Integration**: Each brand indicates whether or not it |
| 23 integrates with Google Update via `kUseGoogleUpdateIntegration`. Google |
| 24 Chrome does, while Chromium does not. |
| 25 |
| 26 * **Channel** (or *update channel*): Brands that integrate with Google Update |
| 27 have the capability of supporting multiple update channels (e.g., Google |
| 28 Chrome's stable, beta, dev, and canary channels). Each install mode |
| 29 specifies a default update channel and a strategy for dynamically |
| 30 determining a browser's channel. Brands that do not integrate with Google |
| 31 Update are unconditinally on the `"unknown"` channel. |
| 32 |
| 33 ## Operational Details |
| 34 |
| 35 Chrome calls `InitializeModuleProductDetails` early in process startup to |
| 36 determine its install mode, update channel, and other related details. This |
| 37 results in the creation of a process-wide `InstallDetails` instance within the |
| 38 allocation domain of the calling module. The calling module exposes a |
| 39 `GetInstallDetailsPayload` function by which other modules in the process may |
| 40 obtain a pointer to a POD-struct payload containing these details and create |
| 41 their own module-specific `InstallDetails` instance. Code in Chrome may then use |
| 42 `InstallDetails::Get()` to access its module's view of the process's details. |
| 43 |
| 44 While Chrome's installer has its own logic for determining its `InstallDetails`, |
| 45 it also makes it available process-wide. This enables code sharing between the |
| 46 browser and the installer -- code in each can use `InstallDetails::Get()` to |
| 47 determine things like the active install mode, or whether the browser/installer |
| 48 is operating at system-level. |
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