Setup vs msi

[Igor Korot]

Hi, ALL,
It is time for me to release my application under Windows.
I'm building the executable under Windows 7 with MSVC 2010 Pro.

Now what I'd like to is to package it in self contained installation archive.

On Windows it used to be a setup.exe file which were run and copied
all required files to the appropriate locations.
Now, M$ changes this - it is now a self contained file with msi extension.

What I'd like to know is this - is there a preferred way to distribute
the program? What are pros/cons of setup.exe
versus msi packaging?

Now, what do I need in order to make setup.exe or msi? I of course
prefer a free solution or a very cheap one....

Thank you.

P.S.: I apologize for the OT as its not directly related to wxWidgets
discussions.

[Jan Krabbenbos | DGT]

Hi Igor,

I'm using InnoSetup for creating setup files. InnoSetup is an open source tool.


With kind regards,
Met vriendelijke groet,

Jan Krabbenbos
Software Development



Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.dgtprojects.com
 
visit address: Hengelosestraat 66, 7514 AJ  Enschede, The Netherlands
mail address: PO Box 1295, 7500 BG  Enschede, The Netherlands

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Igor Korot
Verzonden: woensdag 16 juli 2014 12:08
Onderwerp: Setup vs msi
Hi, ALL,
It is time for me to release my application under Windows.
I'm building the executable under Windows 7 with MSVC 2010 Pro.
Now what I'd like to is to package it in self contained installation archive.
On Windows it used to be a setup.exe file which were run and copied all
required files to the appropriate locations.
Now, M$ changes this - it is now a self contained file with msi
extension.
What I'd like to know is this - is there a preferred way to distribute
the program? What are pros/cons of setup.exe versus msi packaging?
Now, what do I need in order to make setup.exe or msi? I of course
prefer a free solution or a very cheap one....
Thank you.
P.S.: I apologize for the OT as its not directly related to wxWidgets
discussions.
--
Please read http://www.wxwidgets.org/support/mlhowto.htm before posting.
or visit http://groups.google.com/group/wx-users

[David Connet]

Post by Igor Korot
What I'd like to know is this - is there a preferred way to distribute
the program? What are pros/cons of setup.exe
versus msi packaging?

Msi. Period. (The more you play by MS's rules, the easier life is)

If you do your own setup, you're reinventing the wheel. Getting an
install correct is not the easiest thing - because you have to handle
the failure/rollback condition properly. And upgrades. It does take a
little to get your head around MSI itself - some tools will try to
insulation you from that. I think that's a mistake.

Post by Igor Korot
Now, what do I need in order to make setup.exe or msi? I of course
prefer a free solution or a very cheap one....

I use Wix. (I just generate an MSI, I do not create a bundle [exe]. A
bundle is useful if you have multiple MSIs/EXEs that you want to install
as a package)

Books:
To get your head around MSI, I strongly recommend "The Definitive Guide
to Windows Installer" by Phil Wilson.
In addition, for Wix,
http://www.packtpub.com/wix-developers-guide-windows-installer-xml/book

Software (all free):
Wix: http://wixtoolset.org/releases/
Orca: (part of Windows SDK - <path>\bin\orca.msi)
InstEd (a better Orca): http://www.instedit.com/
(the last 2 allow you to edit/modify an MSI - very useful for
understanding what certain elements in Wix end up doing)

Many people use a wixproj file (VS project file) to compile wix. I took
the simple route and just scripted the command line tools via python.
You can take a look at
http://sourceforge.net/p/agilitybook/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/AgilityBook/src/Projects/Installer/
to see a fairly simple installer. (GenMSI.py builds the MSI, the
wxi/wxs/wxl files are the Wix files)

Dave