FireBird 4.0, 32 bit, Windows 2008 server, is not a valid Win32 application

[Csaba Juhasz]

Hello!

I wanted to install FireBird 4.0 on a 32-bit Windows Server 2008 computer.

I downloaded the Firebird-4.0.0.2496-1-Win32.exe file, but I'm getting this error message:

Firebird-4.0.0.2496-1-Win32.exe is not a valid Win32 application.

How can this be? Has anyone encountered a similar problem?

Thanks, Csaba

[Mark Rotteveel]

I checked the executable, and it is definitely a 32-bit application.
Unfortunately, that doesn't say very much because the Firebird 64-bit
installer is also a 32-bit application. So, I also checked the Firebird
executable from that installer, and it is also a 32-bit application.

However, lack of a 32-bit Windows OS (let alone a 32-bit Windows Server
2008) means I can't verify it further than that.

Installer:

Dump of file D:\Install\Firebird-4.0.0.2496-1-Win32.exe

PE signature found

File Type: EXECUTABLE IMAGE

FILE HEADER VALUES
14C machine (x86)
[..]

OPTIONAL HEADER VALUES
10B magic # (PE32)
[..]

Firebird executable:

Dump of file firebird.exe

PE signature found

File Type: EXECUTABLE IMAGE

FILE HEADER VALUES
14C machine (x86)
[..]

OPTIONAL HEADER VALUES
10B magic # (PE32)
[..]

Mark
--
Mark Rotteveel

[Csaba Juhasz]

Thanks for the reply!

I took out another 32-bit computer.

I installed windows 2008 server on it.

Then I tried the FireBird 4.0 installer.

Did not work. :( It says no 32-bit.

I do not understand...

I am now installing Windows 10 on this computer. I'll see if the installer installs.

[Dimitry Sibiryakov]

Csaba Juhasz wrote 19.10.2021 11:29:
> Then I tried the FireBird 4.0 installer.
>
> Did not work. :( It says no 32-bit.

Perhaps something corrupts your file during download. Check CRC:

CRC32: 0xFF29BBB7 (15,512,468)
MD5: 9054cf0514afcf8f628e6a9f97bee2f0 *Firebird-4.0.0.2496-1-Win32.exe
SHA1: 271307e3e99b4fabfc493034c7be8fdfc37168b9 *Firebird-4.0.0.2496-1-Win32.exe

--
WBR, SD.

[Csaba Juhasz]

I checked the downloaded file on my 64-bit Win10 laptop.

The installation starts here.

Now I install Win10 on a 32 bit computer and see if the installer starts there.

If so, windows server 2008 is not liked by the installer.

I was looking for the operating systems on which the FireBird installer works. I did not find such a list.

[Dimitry Sibiryakov]

Csaba Juhasz wrote 19.10.2021 11:56:
> I was looking for the operating systems on which the FireBird installer works. I
> did not find such a list.

It is InnoSetup 6 so you can see the list at https://jrsoftware.org/isdl.php

If your OS doesn't like the installer you always can install Firebird from
ZIP package.

--
WBR, SD.

[Csaba Juhasz]

I see it should work on Windows Server 2008.

"Operating system requirements are changing: Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003 are no longer supported. Windows Vista is the minimum supported operating system."

I also tried yesterday to download the Firebird-4.0.0.2496-1-Win32.zip file, unzip it there on Windows Server 2008, and then run the firebird.exe file.

I also got that the file is not 32 bit.

[Mark Rotteveel]

That is an odd way to find out what OS Firebird supports, and it is not
correct IMHO.

The Firebird release notes should explicitly list the OS versions
supported, and the installer should work on those.

However, the installer script[1] has this comment:

"""
As per the innosetup documentation:
"Change in default behavior: [Setup] section directive MinVersion now
defaults to 6.1sp1, so by default Setup will not run on Windows Vista or
on versions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 which have not
been updated. Setting MinVersion to 6.0 to allow Setup to run on
Windows Vista is supported but not recommended - Windows Vista doesn't
support some of Setup's security measures against potential DLL
preloading attacks so these have to be removed by the compiler if
MinVersion is below 6.1 making your installer less secure on all
versions of Windows."

This change _may_ be a problem for W2K8 R2. In any case Windows Vista
and even Windows 7 are now deprecated and hopefully no production
install of W2K8 R2 is unpatched. If necessary we can define
'support_legacy_windows' to roll back this new feature but users who
need to deploy to what are now ancient versions of windows are advised
to manually install Firebird 4.0 with the zip package.
"""

Which suggests that if the OP is using Windows Server 2008, it won't
work, and must update to Windows Server 2008R2 with the latest updates.

[1]:
https://github.com/FirebirdSQL/firebird/blob/v4.0-release/builds/install/arch-specific/win32/FirebirdInstall.iss#L127

--
Mark Rotteveel

[Mark Rotteveel]

On 19-10-2021 12:09, Csaba Juhasz wrote:
> I see it should work on Windows Server 2008.
>
> "Operating system requirements are changing: Windows 2000, XP, and
> Server 2003 are no longer supported. Windows Vista is the minimum
> supported operating system."

Dimitry is wrong to suggest that the versions supported by InnoSetup
somehow dictates what is supported by Firebird, but unfortunately the
release notes are silent on the supported OS versions.

However, InnoSetup will not work on Windows Server 2008 by default:

"""
Change in default behavior: Starting with Inno Setup 6.1 the [Setup]
section directive MinVersion defaults to 6.1sp1, so by default Setup

will not run on Windows Vista or on versions of Windows 7 and Windows
Server 2008 R2 which have not been updated.
"""

Given the configuration of the Firebird installer I linked in my
previous post, the Firebird installer will not work on Windows Server
2008, nor on a Windows Server 2008 R2 that hasn't been properly updated.

> I also tried yesterday to download the Firebird-4.0.0.2496-1-Win32.zip
> file, unzip it there on Windows Server 2008, and then run the
> firebird.exe file.
>
> I also got that the file is not 32 bit.

That could be the result of a build issue that will be fixed in 4.0.1.
I'd suggest trying with a snapshot build from
http://web.firebirdsql.org/download/snapshot_builds/win/4.0/

In any case, I recommend that you report this on
https://github.com/FirebirdSQL/firebird/issues, because 1) the project
should explicitly specify the supported OS versions, and 2) the
installer should work on those OS versions.

Mark
--
Mark Rotteveel