Avoid Incompatibility When CVD and Base Layer Applications Share a Component

A base layer update can cause a shared component to be unusable by an application that does not support the new component version.

About this task

Microsoft Office and Microsoft Visual Studio have a common shared component. Office is part of the base layer but Visual Studio is user-installed and part of the layer that maintains user-installed applications and user machine information.

Microsoft Visual Studio includes a newer version of the shared component that is backwards compatible with Office, but the Microsoft Office component version is too outdated for Microsoft Visual Studio.

Without an override policy, every base layer update that occurs after Microsoft Visual Studio is installed might corrupt the Microsoft Visual Studio installation.

Procedure

1. In the Mirage Management console, expand the Image Composer node and select Layer Rules.
2. Add the path of the component to the Do Not Override By Layer policy section.

Results

The following behavior is enforced:

• If the user first installs Microsoft Visual Studio and then receives Microsoft Office with a base layer update, Mirage recognizes that the component file already exists and does not override it, leaving the newer version.

• If the user first receives the base layer update, the component file does not exist and is downloaded as part of Microsoft Office. If the user then installs Microsoft Visual Studio, the newer version of the shared file is installed, and Microsoft Office and Microsoft Visual Studio function properly.