A problem many notice immediately is that the Automated MinGW installer does not install the package versions one would expect.
The Automated MinGW Installer determines what is available for download not by directly examining the 
download page at sourceforge but by examining a 
mingw.ini file. This "public file" is automatically updated every four hours to reflect the content of an internal mingw.ini file (which is in the MinGW CVS repository).
If the maintainer of a package would like his package to be installable by the installer, he needs to update the internal mingw.ini file whenever he changes the status of the package.
So if the installer does not install the latest version of a package, then the maintainer of that particular package has chosen to not support distributing his package via the installer.
- A kludgy workaround
- After the installer downloads the mingw.ini file, (when the `Checking for updates...' notification is replaced by the installer's own `Welcome...' notice), the user may allow the installer to wait while he manually updates (e.g., over-writes) the downloaded mingw.ini file, before clicking the `Next>' button to let the installer continue.
Other issues with the installer:
- It does not check the package version record in the installed.ini file, and can blindly follow the package list in the mingw.ini file to the extent of even downgrading an installed package to an earlier version.
After completing a first time install, the installer does not prompt for an installation directory during any subsequent run, but insists on over-writing the existing setup; this denies the user any opportunity to maintain `side-by-side' configurations based on chronologically distinct package versions.
- Kludge
- To work around this, the original installation directory may be renamed, before running the installer for the new configuration; (this effectively removes the original installation, forcing the installer to initiate a fresh installation).
If a user specifies, say, a `candidate' install as his `first-time' choice, he is not allowed to change this choice ever again; this makes it difficult for users to evaluate a `candidate' configuration, and subsequently revert to `current' in case of dissatisfaction.
- Kludge
- This too may be worked around, by removing or renaming the original installation directory, thus forcing a fresh install.
