[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]
The installer database consists of many inter-related tables that together comprise a relational database of the information necessary to install a group of applications. Because the database is relational, changes made to one table get propagated automatically throughout the database. This is a very efficient process for introducing consistent changes into the installation process and means that users can more easily customize a large application or group of applications. The database tables therefore reflect the general layout of the entire group of applications, including:
To create an installation database, you must populate the tables with all the information about the applications and the installation process. Manually authoring all these tables becomes a large task even for a moderate size installation, therefore some third-party tools are available to assist with building the installer database. It is helpful for understanding the scheme of the installer database to break it up into groups of related tables. The following sections describe groups of related tables.
Program Information Tables Group
Installation Procedure Tables Group
For a complete list of all tables in an installation database, see Installation Database Tables.