OS9: What to do when older software overwrites QuickTime 6 with 2 and all hell breaks loose?

[Riku7]

Okay so this seems to be a pattern now. It's a thing that has happened twice already, so I bet other OS 9 users have been in this situation. Is there a known solution to this? Or even just a guess?

I have a clamshell iBook running 9.2.2.
The first time around when I was installing software to it, I think it was Photoshop 4 that replaced QuickTime 6.0.2 files with an older QuickTime version, which lead to getting the following nags on startup:

- QuickTime MPEG Extension did not load. It requires QuickTime 6.0.2 or later.
- QuickTime PowerPlug installation failed because the versions of QuickTime and QuickTime PowerPlug do not match.
- QuickTime VR installation failed because it requires QuickTime version 6.0 or newer.

Soon, it came with all sorts of additional issues in Finder. I downloaded QuickTime installer thinking that I could just install 6.0.2 back on top of that, but nope, this mess has also broken Stuffit because it says: "Stuffit Expander could not be opened because InterfaceLib--GetComponentResource could not be found" and "you may need to install a newer version of InterfaceLib--GetComponentResource".
If I unstuff the .bin file under OSX and move the .smi installer file to OS9, Toast will say that it "could not detect the format of QuickTime Installe.smi. Click continue if you are certain that it is a valid disc image." I do that, and it gives error "Couldn't complete the last command because of a Mac OS Error. Result Code = -60." Trying with DiskCopy, I get "The Mount Image operation did not complete. (-39) An unexpected end-of-file was encountered in QuickTime Installer.smi which may indicate that it is corrupted or damaged." So no running that installer then, eh?

Due to all the Finder issues that started spiraling from that, I ended up reinstalling my whole OS and all the software, making sure to start from Photoshop and install everything else after it.

The machine has been fine, until today I installed Encore 4 and I'm in the same damn situation again! It's just impossible to know which software is going to replace more recent files with old ones and mess things up because it's not like they tell you what they're going to install.
What is this thing, how do you avoid it, and is there something I can do to avoid having to reinstall the whole OS again?

 

[wnlewis]

What is this thing, how do you avoid it, and is there something I can do to avoid having to reinstall the whole OS again?

Generally on the old OS 9 programs they give you the option to do a "regular install" or a "custom install". Choose the custom install.

One of the things that is normally an option is "QuickTime". Don't click it, or any other "helper" application that is so out of date that it would ruin other applications.

 

[MysticCow]

The better question is why the installer forced a downgrade?

and yes, custom install everything from now on, apparently. Dang goofy installers.

 

[wnlewis]

When the OS 9 software was new, all the helper applications would have been the "latest and greatest", so, why not overwrite any other version of the software?

There may have been users that did not want a particular application since they either: did not have room on the hard drive, or they had software that they liked better. That would have been the reason for the custom install option.

It is somewhat like users who do not want all "900" languages that are available, loaded on their computers now.

The idea that the helper software being installed might possibly be an older (not a newer) version, probably never entered into the minds of the software developers.

 

[Riku7]

Actually this one was my bad: Encore 4 installer does have a custom install option, I just didn't see it this one time.
The first time it happened, it was with Photoshop, and someone confirmed that it does not have the custom install option at all, so there's nothing I could've done differently. After that incident, I thought that I'd look very carefully every time I'm installing something new, so the same doesn't happen again. But, then I slipped.

When the OS 9 software was new, all the helper applications would have been the "latest and greatest", so, why not overwrite any other version of the software?

Yeah, I think so too. In hindsight, it was extremely short-sighted and bad programming, and today, that wouldn't happen again because software checks on the versions and only makes sure that what's left is the most recent one.

Solution: the best way to avoid this is to store an unpackaged exact copy of the QuickTime extension(s) either somewhere on the hard drive, or, on an external backup. Doesn't take much space at all, but will save you from all the frustration or a complete reinstall. That way, if QuickTime gets messed up, the backup one can be moved to the extensions folder to simply overwrite the messed up one. Having a QuickTime package file (as you'd get from Macintosh Garden or Macintosh Repository) on handy or trying to acquire it afterwards will not help, because when things get messed up, the computer will refuse to unpack packages or mount iso files.