Do I need to include the Install4J license text (see here) in full or in parts when I distribute my commercial software whose installation is based on Install4J?
Neither could I find a LICENSE.txt file or something similar in the installation directory, nor did the installer GUI show any Install4J-related license texts.
The Install4J license does not seem to require an explicit listing of the license text but I'm wondering if I should still include some license info on Install4J in my attribution statement which comes with the software.
No, all generated installers and the runtime are freely redistributable, no attribution is required.
Source: https://www.ej-technologies.com/buy/install4j/licensing.html
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How do I find out what silentArg I need to use for creating a Chocolatey package?
I know that each installer will have different silentArgs but I just don't know where I can find which one has which. Also, I am using strictly .exe files (embedded too).
You'll have to work with the documentation/support provided by the software maintainer, but I'll provide some suggestions here.
Typically, MSI installers support the same silent installation parameters (many will simply work with /qn), but sometimes an installer might support additional variables or an input file you must provide.
EXE installers are a free-for-all, unfortunately. It depends on what parameters are coded into the setup program to support, even for the setup.exe installers that call another MSI. Depending on what built the EXE installer, you might be able to try some common options. The following techniques are suggestions to get you started on de-mystifying different common EXE installers:
A setup.exe that extracts and runs MSIs might be able to have the MSIs extracted and run on their own, but this is likely unsupported by the software maintainer. You will need to test this on your own per package to know if this approach will work.
Nullsoft Installers typically support a common array of options that can be used to deploy your application.
InstallShield Installers typically support the /S parameter along with an answer file, but you would still need to work with the software maintainer or read the software documentation to know what to put in the answer file.
As I've mentioned in other answers, the best thing you can do here is reach out to the vendor or software maintainer and ask for a deployment guide for that software, or at least documentation on how to silently install.
I have been looking for the license used/required by dotConnect Express for Oracle 8.4.201. I am using their nuget package: https://www.nuget.org/packages/dotConnect.Express.for.Oracle/8.4.201
Unfortunately, the nuget page does not include any license information (as it does with other packages, i.e., Json.NET).
From the nuget docs I see that the .nuspec file can contain the metadata entry licenseUrl which, according to the nuget docs, is:
"A link to the license that the package is under."
However, the .nuspec file included in the dotConnect.Express.for.Oracle.8.4.201.nupkg package file does not contain that element (which very like explains why the nuget page does not include a link to the license terms either).
I have been searching on Google for this but without any result.
So yeah, can anyone point me to some official documentation on which license this nuget package / library is under?
Please refer to https://www.devart.com/dotconnect/oracle/licensing-faq.html#q9. You can get the full text of EULA by installing any edition of dotConnect for Oracle on your workstation. A copy of EULA (License.rtf) will be available in the folder of provider installation (by default, \Program Files\Devart\dotConnect\Oracle).
I have a list of photos and a photo viewer application (and executable) that I'd like to package as an installer file. What tools can I use to package all the files together, instruct the installer where to copy files to, to automatically run the executable, etc.? An MSI-like installer would be ideal, I think.
There is a list of Install software on Wikipedia. Eliminate those that don't suit your platform/licensing/budget/are discontinued and you should end up with a small list enough to try all of them.
I run an open source project that normally distributes our code in a universal zip format. In addition to the core software, we also have several community developed add-ons for the software.
Rather that getting the user to download all of the options from disparate locations and websites, I'd like to provide a small footprint installer that would
Download and install java as needed. If the user is on 64bit OS, it would need to download both 32 and 64 bit.
Download and unpack the core software zip file
Allow the user to choose the latest stable version or the development version (two different websites)
Choose the additional software options (multiple options)
Download each one individually (different websites)
Unpack/Install as necessary
Write configuration files (plain text)
Clean up directory as needed depending on the configuration options.
E.g. if I select optional software "1", delete directory "X"
I don't necessarily want to provide all of those additional software options in the core installation file (in fact, if I could just provide an installation program with a small footprint that could determine the latest versions of all the available software (probably have to screen scrape some websites, others might provide a text file with the version number in it)
Is Install4j suitable for this?
I know that I would have to write some code to do the version identification, but mostly I want a GUI with a guided path for the user to choose the options and for it to download them as needed.
Once I've written the script, I'd prefer to leave it be and not have to compile new versions all the time (if possible), excepting the instances where the URL information might change.
You can use "Download file" actions to download ZIP files from arbitrary sites and then "Install contents of ZIP file" actions to install them as needed.
As for the presentation to the user, you can use the standard installation components facility where you can order installations components into a tree which is displayed on the "Installation components" screen. You can leave all the installation components empty in your case. Another advantage is that you can specify dependencies for installation components.
In the "Installation screen", I would add action groups that contain pairs of "Download file"/"Install contents of ZIP file" actions (and whatever other action are required for each component). The condition expression of each action group should be set to
context.getInstallationComponentById("123").isSelected()
where "123" is the ID of the corresponding installation component.
As for 64-bit/32-bit: On Windows, I would propose to only create an installer for 32-bit with a bundled 32-bit JRE. This works just as well on a 64-bit JRE. If necessary, a separate 64-bit media file has to be created. The bundled JRE can be downloaded on demand.
On Linux I would not really recommend to bundle a JRE. If necessary, provide two separate media files for 32-bit Linux and 64-bit Linux.
As for the "guided path for the user", you can create custom screens in install4j.
We have a windows app and we were using Wise for deployment. Recently we switched to InstallAware and though it has some good points we are facing some issues. Can someone recommend another deployment and packaging app? We are a small company and we do not have a dedicated staff for packaging etc. Also our package includes SQL server express installation and we would love to have the simplicity of such includes as is in IA.
How about NSIS or InnoSetup? They're both widely used, and not that hard to use. (If you choose InnoSetup, also download ISTool, it's a lot easier than writing the script file manually.)
We've used NSIS several times, both for full regular desktop installers, and for small, silently installing patches. It's easy to write a basic installer, especially if you use HM NIS Edit which acts as a wizard and IDE for NSIS. Because it's scriptable, you'll be able to check if SQL Server Express is already installed - if not, it can be installed as part of your installer process.
I have never used anything but Windows Setup and the setup projects that come with Visual Studio. Do you have any unusual requirements that prevent you from doing that?
I assume your requirement as follows,
You are using wise package studio to create\customize the application to create MSI and these msi package will be deployed or installed to your environment.
My question is : How many desktops \laptops are their in your company (Infrastructure)
Solution to your question based on my assumption:
At present Admistudio is the best product to replace the Wise and you can use Installshield repackager to create or customize the applications.
Install anyware is used to customize the Dll files (Build and release method) and create custom actions in that build file and build it to MSI
Installshield Repackager is used to create MSI from Exe files and also customize existing MSI using transform file (no need to modify existing MSI instead we can create MST file to MSI and perform the customization to MST file and same file will be applied while deployment.)
Please let me know if you need further assistance.