32-bit Installation of WinMerge

[dking02]

The following features are listed on the product web page for Home Updater v5:

• Installs 64-bit apps by default on 64-bit Windows
• Optionally choose to install 32-bit apps on 64-bit Windows

I tried to update a 32-bit installation of WinMerge from 2.16.46 to 2.16.48 via Home Updater v5.2.0.0 (silent install disabled) and the 64-bit (x64) installer was downloaded and launched instead of the 32-bit (x86) installer.

How is the second option above to install 32-bit apps accessed in v5? I don't see a user setting, context menu item, or user prompt. Home Updater should be able to detect that the 32-bit version is installed from the program's uninstall string in the registry.

Note that WinMerge has separate installer files for the 32-bit and 64-bit version of the program. The setup files differ in size and in the name displayed in the title bar of the window when launched.

[dking02]

P.S. Note that the same situation described above for WinMerge also occurs for a 32-bit installation of Notepad++.

[Omar (Patch My PC)]

Home Updater v5 only has 64-Bit apps, We are not planning to add any 32-Bit apps anymore because most 32-Bit apps are discontinued now and the rest will be soon since the last Windows 32-Bit (Win 10) will reach end of line next October as well.

[dking02]

The discontinuation of 32-bit versions of the Windows OS does not affect the existing capability to install and run compatible 32-bit apps on 64-bit versions of Windows 10 and 11. 32-bit versions of the aforementioned apps are currently provided by their vendors and may be preferred when running on 64-bit Windows to ensure compatibility with older 32-bit plug-ins .

If you do not support updating existing 32-bit installations of apps, please remove the second bullet above from the Home Updater v5 product page and remove "by default" from the first bullet. Also document that existing 32-bit installations will be replaced with their 64-bit version when updated by Home Updater. Ideally, the Home Updater client would prompt the user when a 32-bit installation is about to be replaced if silent install is disabled and would visually identify the apps in My Apps that are currently 32-bit installations.

I also suggest the following system requirements on the Home Updater web page be reworded as they could be misconstrued to mean that the Home Updater client will no longer be available on Windows 10 when Microsoft ends general support for Windows 10 later this year:

System Requirements:

• Internet access
• Microsoft Windows Desktop Runtime 8.0 (64-Bit)
• A 64-bit version of Windows that is supported by Microsoft
• Operating System:
• Windows Client: Windows 10 or later
• Windows Server: Windows Server 2016 or later

[Justin Chalfant (Patch My PC)]

Thanks for the detailed post and thoughtful feedback!

You're totally right to call that out. That second bullet point on the Home Updater v5 product page was accidentally left over from version 4, which did support optional 32-bit installs. We've just updated the site to remove that outdated info and clarify the behavior in v5.

Today, Home Updater v5 only supports 64-bit apps. When silent install is off, it doesn't currently prompt if it's replacing a 32-bit install with a 64-bit one, but that's great feedback we'll take into account. Appreciate you pointing this out and helping us improve the documentation.

Out of curiosity, is there a specific reason you're sticking with the 32-bit version of WinMerge? Just trying to understand the use case better in case there's something we should be considering.

Let us know if anything else seems off. We're always happy to improve.

[dking02]

Today, Home Updater v5 only supports 64-bit apps.

Not true. Home Updater v5 supports a number of apps which  are only available as 32-bit apps and that it will install and update on 64-bit Windows. For example, I have 49 supported non-portables installed on my machine, of which nine are only available as 32-bit apps: Belarc Advisor, BleachBit, Fan Control, Foxit PDF Reader, GadgetPack, Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 and 2015-2022 Redistributables (x86), NVIDIA PhysX, Resource Hacker.

Out of curiosity, is there a specific reason you're sticking with the 32-bit version of WinMerge

WinMerge released a 64-bit version with v2.16.0 in Nov 2018. I had already been relying on the existing 32-bit version of WinMerge with an unofficial 32-bit plugin (xdocdiff) to perform comparison of text in two PDFs. It was simpler to stick with older platform which works well rather than risking possible incompatibilities and having to expend unnecessary, additional effort. I have also been sticking with 32-bit versions of IrfanView and Notepad++ both of which use plugins and will now be similarly affected  by Home Updater v5 only providing 64-bit updates to these apps. They introduced 64-bit versions in Jul 2015 (v4.40) and Sep 2016 (v7.0), respectively.

In response to this topic, I have taken a look at the current situation with these three programs and have decided to switch to their 64-bit versions. In the case of WinMerge, I am also installing its 32-bit version to support regression testing of other 32-bit software. Since Home Updater v5 only offers 64-bit updates of WinMerge, the additional 32-bit installation will not be affected and the update to the 64-bit version will serve as notification to manually download the 32-bit update from the WinMerge.org website.

References:

Advantages of 64-bit and 32-bit versions of IrfanView
https://www.irfanview.com/64bit.htm

32-bit vs 64-bit versions of WinMerge
https://github.com/WinMerge/winmerge/discussions/2193