Is it possible to override the behavior of a merge module

Question

Supposing I have a merge module that installs a file "MyFile.txt" to a certain location, and that I wish to use that merge module, however I want to supply a different copy of "MyFile.txt" from the one supplied with the merge module.

Is it possible to do this? (And for bonus points how can I do this using Wix)

Update: Roughly speaking MyFile.txt is part of a package up component of installable items that we provide to others, they then comine these components with their own to produce an installer.

In the ideal world they would only need to add new files to the output, however this is a replacement for an existing system where they currently have the ability to modify or even replace items (suce as MyFile.txt) in the end installer, and so without the ability to do the same with the merge module the migration path will be difficult.

The packaged up component doesn't need to be a merge module if there is a better solution, however merge modules seemed like the sensible choice and in all other respects provide a very nice re-usable package of installer logic.

Answer 1

It's possible but every technique that I know is a bit of a hack and doesn't scale very well. Can you tell me more about what type of file MyFile.txt is and what the intent of the different flavors of the file? Usually my goal is to never have the same filename twice ( darn component rules ) and then design variation points to support the needs. Sometimes upstream changes to the application are required to do this correctly.