I have a few powershell commands in a script that I want to distribute to everyone on my team. This script may be updated and I would want an easy way for my team to update this script as well. Someone suggested Chocolatey which I have never used before. I found the following in the Chocolatey.org FAQ:
"What kind of package types does Chocolatey support?
Binary Packages – Installable/portable applications – This is 98% of the Chocolatey packages – most are pointers to the real deal native installers and/or zipped software.
PowerShell Command Packages – Packages that have the suffix .powershell will install PowerShell scripts as commands for you to call from anywhere.
Development Packages – Packages that have the suffix .dev. For instance dropkick.dev.
Coming soon – Virtual Packages – Packages that are like a category, and you just want one package from that category. Read more ..."
Does anyone have an example of using chocolatey to install a powershell script to the Path so that the commands in it can be executed from anyway on the machine? I am unable to find an example of how to do this online.
If this is an inappropriate use of chocolatey, please let me know and feel free to recommend an alternate solution.
Thank you very much for your time. Please let me know if I am being unclear or if you have any questions for me?
Look at the PowerShell Function Reference, which has all of the different functions you can call. Then take a look, specifically, at the Install-ChocolateyPowershellCommand helper. Here's an example of a package that installs a powershell script as a command (source).
Related
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 recently set up a new machine and installed/enabled chocolatey. As far as I can remember I was able to call a package via powershell based on the package name. For instance, if I wanted to install mongodb, I used to type choco install mongodb - and was able to call the mongo client by simply typing mongo in the powershell console. Is there a way to see if something is bound to a specific shim ? or is there an option to enable it?
I don't think there is a way to match packages with shims, but you can check the executable a shim points to, along with general information about it and what would happen if you run the shim:
shimname.exe --shimgen-noop
I tried crafting a command to check all the shims in the $env:ChocolateyInstall\bin directory, but there's no guarantee that executables there are going to be a shim. I tried filtering out the known Chocolatey executables as well, but some packages (like putty) drop their real executables right in the bin folder, and won't respond to the shim parameters like you'd expect.
Looking at the Install-BinFile cmdlet, it doesn't look like Chocolatey provides a way to track shims at all as it doesn't even do this itself. I think it uses the same logic to track automatically generated shims at package uninstall time, but any shims explicitly created with Install-BinFile also need to have Uninstall-BinFile called in the associated chocolateyUninstall.ps1 script or the shim won't be removed at package uninstall time.
Short of crawling the $env:ChocolateyInstall\lib\packageName directory for potential automatic shim names, or the chocolateyInstall.ps1/chocolateyUninstall.ps1 scripts for explicit shims, you're not going to be able to match a shim to a package.
After I install a package in powershell by using
"choco install $package" where package is taken from a config file and would look like "WinRar" so I would be doing choco install WinRar, how do i get the exact path this package was just installed to?
For example when I am installing PhantomJS using this, it gets installed to C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\PhantomJS\tools\phantomjs-2.1.1-windows and I as the developer know that, but since I need to add this to the env path, depending on which version the install command installs, the path will be different. I need to get the exact path so i can set the environmental variable to right place.
PhantomJS is just one example, but a lot of packages get installed into directories where their version is apart of the path and getting the path from the powershell install scripts would really be helpful.
Is there anything like this available for the package manager? I assume figuring out where the package just got installed to should be possible because I see it displayed on my terminal window, just don't know how to access it in powershell.
Thanks.
Currently there is not a way, but there is a thought to maybe provide back a list of package results with that information (along with more). That is still in a feature request so look for it to be developed in the coming months.
You could parse the Chocolatey output to determine where Chocolatey saw things get installed and we are working to make that detection even better.
I'm really don't know my modules from my manifests when it comes to PowerShell, so hopefully one of you kind folks can get me sorted. I'm trying to install a PowerShell snap-in that comes packaged with a software asset management solution (AdminStudio).
There are no apparent errors, however, I can't invoke commands with the module and the module doesn't populate in a Get-Module -list, so I don't believe it installed correctly.
The documentation describing installation is rather brief, though I don't think anyone's to blame for that. This should be a simple process.
AdminStudio PowerShell Install Guide
Any ideas?
I need to make installation file (.exe), but is that possible with batch script and how?
I made installation with some software (Deployment...) but I need to do that with script. I have all necessary files for my installation.
Is that possible?
Marko
Virtually every tool for building installation packages provides ability to include arbitrary sripts to the installation process. Just inspect your tool for this capability...
Here, we often include sripts in our WIX installations. Of course, user expirience is better when you building installation package nativelly, but in some cases this is acceptable practice (mostly when there is no non-tech users planned).
With a batch script, you will not be able to make a .exe (unless you call a .exe creator from within the batch script!). Why not try Inno Setup or NSIS? ISTool helps in creating Inno Setup scripts with ease and speed.
You can't make an .exe using nothing but a batch script. You can however use a batch script to create the installation specification file(s) and then run that file through an installer creator program like the ones mentioned in the other answers here. Perhaps you could be a bit clearer about what you actually need to do?