Installation softwares (PC desktop)
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Once in a while we start having a discussion on how to improve our workflow when creating installers for our software (large, but non complex installer) We are using InstallShield; it is a beast, it works, but hard to use and integrate into our Continuous Integration tools; but it has all the features we need (EXE, redistributables, chained MSI...) Someone always ask if there is something better that we can use; so I go on the internets and look around and go to this [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_installation\_software) page. I'm always surprised at how few installer software there are. I'm surprised that even Microsoft does not offer a good packaging tool. What are you using to package your software? Are we stuck on what we have right now ?
I'd rather be phishing!
Another vote for Advanced Installer. It has an unbelievable range of options but the defaults are sensible, and support for occasional bugs is excellent.
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Once in a while we start having a discussion on how to improve our workflow when creating installers for our software (large, but non complex installer) We are using InstallShield; it is a beast, it works, but hard to use and integrate into our Continuous Integration tools; but it has all the features we need (EXE, redistributables, chained MSI...) Someone always ask if there is something better that we can use; so I go on the internets and look around and go to this [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_installation\_software) page. I'm always surprised at how few installer software there are. I'm surprised that even Microsoft does not offer a good packaging tool. What are you using to package your software? Are we stuck on what we have right now ?
I'd rather be phishing!
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Once in a while we start having a discussion on how to improve our workflow when creating installers for our software (large, but non complex installer) We are using InstallShield; it is a beast, it works, but hard to use and integrate into our Continuous Integration tools; but it has all the features we need (EXE, redistributables, chained MSI...) Someone always ask if there is something better that we can use; so I go on the internets and look around and go to this [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_installation\_software) page. I'm always surprised at how few installer software there are. I'm surprised that even Microsoft does not offer a good packaging tool. What are you using to package your software? Are we stuck on what we have right now ?
I'd rather be phishing!
We have a client/server WinForms application. We use a standard VS setup project to create an MSI for our initial installs, but the application is "self updating". We upload new EXEs and DLLs into our SQL Server database. The application looks for new components when it launches and when it finds new ones, downloads them to a temporary location, launches an "updater" EXE, and kills itself. The updater moves the new EXEs/DLLs from the temp location to the application folder and re-launches the main EXE. Works like a champ.
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Once in a while we start having a discussion on how to improve our workflow when creating installers for our software (large, but non complex installer) We are using InstallShield; it is a beast, it works, but hard to use and integrate into our Continuous Integration tools; but it has all the features we need (EXE, redistributables, chained MSI...) Someone always ask if there is something better that we can use; so I go on the internets and look around and go to this [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_installation\_software) page. I'm always surprised at how few installer software there are. I'm surprised that even Microsoft does not offer a good packaging tool. What are you using to package your software? Are we stuck on what we have right now ?
I'd rather be phishing!
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We have a client/server WinForms application. We use a standard VS setup project to create an MSI for our initial installs, but the application is "self updating". We upload new EXEs and DLLs into our SQL Server database. The application looks for new components when it launches and when it finds new ones, downloads them to a temporary location, launches an "updater" EXE, and kills itself. The updater moves the new EXEs/DLLs from the temp location to the application folder and re-launches the main EXE. Works like a champ.
Ditto! We do the same, only using an installer (InstallShield) for the initial installation. After that, the application handles any updates to itself and associated files. Of course there are manual update mechanisms in place just in case we put out an update that breaks the updater! :laugh: We also use home-brewed installers for add-on modules using 7-Zip self-extracting libs to create 'smart' installers that detect where the payload needs to go and optionally (on a first install) prompt for a password. They also clean up after themselves.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Maximilien wrote:
Someone always ask if there is something better
Sure -- create a Docker container of everything pre-installed. ;)
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The GitHub "Clone or download" button is my installer! :-D
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I found WIX to be a major PITA to set up an install and slow as hell when running the install. InnoSetup was easy, fast to install, free, etc, etc, (: If you can move away from WIX, I highly suggest InnoSetup
Davyd McColl wrote:
InnoSetup was easy, fast to install, free, etc, etc,
Maybe that is true. However we do not use an UI to build installers, it's part of an automated process that is controlled by other "scripts". The advantage of such a process is that one can consistently inject/replace publication information into various components (exe, dll, msi ...) of the final product (like version number, file version, copy right, URLs, target market, configuration, etc ...) and had the generating "scripts" under version control ... The WIX's xml files are intermediate targets, it's eassier for us to produce ... === edit === OK, innoSetup is also script based. In fact I used Pascal for quite a while in the early days. I will have a closer look at it later
Find more in V-NET: connects your resources anywhere[^].
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Once in a while we start having a discussion on how to improve our workflow when creating installers for our software (large, but non complex installer) We are using InstallShield; it is a beast, it works, but hard to use and integrate into our Continuous Integration tools; but it has all the features we need (EXE, redistributables, chained MSI...) Someone always ask if there is something better that we can use; so I go on the internets and look around and go to this [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_installation\_software) page. I'm always surprised at how few installer software there are. I'm surprised that even Microsoft does not offer a good packaging tool. What are you using to package your software? Are we stuck on what we have right now ?
I'd rather be phishing!
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InstallShield is still the reigning king for us - 30 years and counting Do you use InstallShield Standalone Build for CI?
Currently, we have a scheduled task that runs every morning to build the installers (IsCmdBld). The main issue we have with InstallShield is that its something that is hard to maintain (people add/remove files from the distributions but there's only one of us that can update the installshield project).
I'd rather be phishing!
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Davyd McColl wrote:
InnoSetup was easy, fast to install, free, etc, etc,
Maybe that is true. However we do not use an UI to build installers, it's part of an automated process that is controlled by other "scripts". The advantage of such a process is that one can consistently inject/replace publication information into various components (exe, dll, msi ...) of the final product (like version number, file version, copy right, URLs, target market, configuration, etc ...) and had the generating "scripts" under version control ... The WIX's xml files are intermediate targets, it's eassier for us to produce ... === edit === OK, innoSetup is also script based. In fact I used Pascal for quite a while in the early days. I will have a closer look at it later
Find more in V-NET: connects your resources anywhere[^].
Yes! I encourage looking a little deeper. Look, if WIX does all that you want and makes you happy, then cool. I'm just saying that I spent a lot of time in "installer space" (because it was part of my primary job function at two places of work, so that's work over >5 years, with a gap in the middle) and WIX and InstallShield were a mission where InnoSetup wasn't. InnoSetup also has tooling which targets a few different user groups, from text manipulation masters to competent programmers to people who just want to click their way through making an installer. Which is great, because sometimes I'm all three (: And it's free. And the resultant installers are fast and have the compression that you choose, so can be quite small. Just give it a go, and if it doesn't deliver ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm still happy to choose it whenever I want an installer system.
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Once in a while we start having a discussion on how to improve our workflow when creating installers for our software (large, but non complex installer) We are using InstallShield; it is a beast, it works, but hard to use and integrate into our Continuous Integration tools; but it has all the features we need (EXE, redistributables, chained MSI...) Someone always ask if there is something better that we can use; so I go on the internets and look around and go to this [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_installation\_software) page. I'm always surprised at how few installer software there are. I'm surprised that even Microsoft does not offer a good packaging tool. What are you using to package your software? Are we stuck on what we have right now ?
I'd rather be phishing!
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I looked at WiX; It might work for a simple installation, but for a large installation (23,000 files) it will be hard to maintain; at least create the first iteration, adding add the components/features/files.
I'd rather be phishing!
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InstallShield is still the reigning king for us - 30 years and counting Do you use InstallShield Standalone Build for CI?