Perforce Windows Client - P4WIN, P4DIFF, P4WINMRG, P4EXP, P4
Perforce Web - P4WEB, P4

p4vinst.exe /v"/qb REBOOT=ReallySuppress ..."

PropertyName=PropertyValue

P4V 2009.1 and later can read settings from two XML files to configure initial preference settings and feature availability:

INSTALLDIR\P4VResources\p4vdefaults.xml

INSTALLDIR\P4VResources\p4vfeatures.xml

To enable or disable specific P4V features and set initial preferences for automated installs, your installation process creates

custom XML configuration files defining the default preference settings and features you desire and writes them to the appropriate location on each client machine. For reference, example configuration files are provided in the following directory of a P4V 2009.1 installation:

INSTALLDIR\P4VResources\examples

Four example files are provided:

• p4vfeatures.xml: Configures the feature set for P4V (all features enabled). 
• basic_p4vfeatures.xml: Enables a minimum set of features. 
• p4vdefaults.xml: Configures the default settings for performance preferences and initial application appearance. 
• basic_p4vdefaults.xml: Enables a simplified application layout. 

The p4vdefaults.xml file contains two blocks:

• Performance: Defines settings that control the impact of P4V on the Perforce server 
• Layout: Enables you to define the features that are visible when P4V is launched, to determine its initial appearance.

For further details, consult the example configuration files. If these files are present when P4V is launched, P4V reads the settings to determine which features are visible to the user and to enforce any limits set to minimize impact on the performance of the Perforce server. The settings in these files override P4V's application defaults. After P4V is launched, users can modify any of the settings using the P4V Preferences dialogs. Note that changing preference settings does modify the configuration files.  After you edit the configuration files, you must restart P4V for the new settings to take effect.

Batch file example

The commands for invoking the installer and configuring its arguments and property settings can be placed into a batch file, an example of which is given below.

@ECHO OFF

REM Example batch files showing silent install of 
REM the Perforce Visual Client (P4V). Install all 
REM features except P4SCC and create a p4vfeatures.xml 
REM file that turns off the Connection Wizard.

REM Set the installer executable name
SET INSTALLERCMD=p4vinst.exe

REM Set the arguments we'll pass to msiexec
SET MSIARGS=/qb /l+* .\p4vinst.log^
   INSTALLDIR=\"%ProgramFiles%\Perforce\"^
   P4USER=%UserName%^
   P4CLIENT=%UserName%-%ComputerName%^
   P4PORT=perforce:1666^
   ADDLOCAL=ALL^
   REMOVE=P4SCC

REM Invoke the installer
%INSTALLERCMD% /v"%MSIARGS%"

REM Create a feature XML file in the P4VResources directory 
REM to turn off the P4V Connection Wizard.
SET PREFDIR=%ProgramFiles%\Perforce\P4VResources\
SET P4VFEATS=%PrefDir%p4vfeatures.xml
echo ^<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?^> > "%P4VFeats%"
echo ^<!--perforce-xml-version=1.0--^> >> %P4VFeats%
echo ^<FeaturesEnabled varName="FeaturesEnabled"^> >> "%P4VFeats%"
echo ^<Visibilility varName="Functionality"^> >> "%P4VFeats%"
echo ^<ConnectionWizard^>Off^</ConnectionWizard^> >> "%P4VFeats%"
echo ^</Visibilility^> >> "%P4VFeats%"
echo ^</FeaturesEnabled^> >> "%P4VFeats%"

Full list of properties: 

Common to all products

The P4Win performance properties are not configurable directly by the installer. They are configured as registry entries under the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\perforce\P4win\Options

The recommended method for configuring the properties is through the use of a registration entries (.reg) file. For example, a p4win.reg file containing the following text:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\perforce\P4win\Options]
"AUTOPOLLSERVER"="0"
"ENABLEREVHISTSHOWINTEGS"="0"
"ENABLESUBCHGINTEGFILTER"="0"
"EXPANDCHGLISTS"="0"
"FETCHALLHIST"="0"

can then be sourced by the install batch file that performs the P4Win install as follows:

regedit.exe /S ./p4win.reg

AUTOPOLLICONIC       0 or 1

AUTOPOLLJOBS         0 or 1

AUTOPOLLSERVER       0 or 1
AUTOPOLLTIME         if AUTOPOLLSERVER=1, poll every N minutes
ENABLEREVHISTSHOWINTEGS  0 or 1
ENABLESUBCHGINTEGFILTER   0 or 1
EXPANDCHGLISTS       0 or 1
EXPANDFLAG           0 or 1
FETCHALLCHANGES      0 or 1
FETCHCHANGECOUNT     if FETCHALLCHANGES=0, fetch NNN changelists
FETCHALLJOBS         0 or 1
FETCHJOBCOUNT        if FETCHALLJOBS=0, fetch NNN jobs
FETCHALLHIST         0 or 1 FETCHHISTCOUNT       if FETCHALLHIST=0, fetch NNN history records
RELOADONUNCOVER      0 or 1
RELOADUNCOVERTIME    if RELOADONUNCOVER=1, reload after N minutes
SHOWDELETED          0 or 1

Pre-2007.3 installers

To assist in automating installation of Perforce client programs across multiple desktops, Perforce provides a scripted version of the Perforce Windows Installer. The scripted version of the installer enables Perforce administrators to standardize options and settings before installation, thereby speeding up the process of deploying Perforce client programs throughout an organization.

The customizable element of the scripted installer is a configuration file named perforce.cfg. The Perforce Administrator edits this file, and places it on a shared network drive along with the expanded contents of the perforce.zip file. Perforce client programs can then be installed by running setup.exe from each desktop. It is important to run setup.exe from the folder in which it resides otherwise it will not be able to find perforce.cfg.

The following are some sample settings from the perforce.cfg file:

INSTTYPE=ClientOnly
(Install only the Perforce client programs, and not the Perforce Server)

INSTMODE=NoPrompt
(Install according to the settings in the configuration file without displaying installation dialogs)

P4PORT=perforce:1666
(Configure a value for the Perforce Server machine and port number)

P4WEBPORT=8080
(Configure a value for the port where P4Web is listening)

Other settings and additional information are available in the comments included within the perforce.cfg file. As of release 2005.2, the P4Win performance variable naming convention has been modified. These details are also embedded within the perforce.cfg file for reference.

The Perforce Core (Server and Proxy) scripted installer can be downloaded from: ftp://ftp.perforce.com/perforce/r06.2/bin.ntx86/perforce.zip.

The P4Win scripted installer can be downloaded from: ftp://ftp.perforce.com/perforce/r06.2/bin.ntx86/p4winst.zip.

The P4V scripted installer can be downloaded from: ftp://ftp.perforce.com/perforce/r07.2/bin.ntx86/p4vinst.zip

To use the scripted installer:

1. Download perforce.zip from the FTP site.
2. Extract the contents of perforce.zip into a directory on your machine.
3. In this directory, edit perforce.cfg as required.
4. Place the unzipped contents of this directory, including your customized perforce.cfg file, in a folder accessible from a Network Drive or into the root folder of a CD.
5. From the network drive or CD, run setup.exe to install Perforce according to the settings you configured in perforce.cfg onto each desktop.

Note: The method to exclude certain binaries from being installed by the scripted installer is to remove those binaries from the directory where the perforce.zip (or p4winst.zip) file has been expanded. For example, if you wish to exclude the P4EXP from the install of P4Win, then unzip the p4winst.zip and remove the P4Exp.dll from the expanded directory prior to running setup.exe.

If you have any questions about the settings in perforce.cfg, please contact Perforce Support at support@perforce.com.