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.
Related
We are looking for an approach to extract our application JARs and resources from an EXE installer built with install4j. We are trying to automate installers testing though without actual installation - we want to run our application main JAR unpacked from an installer.
With help of PE file format parser https://github.com/kichik/pecoff4j I've found the major part of content is placed in some kind of preamble of an image. The same entry with the same size is shown when I opened the installer in 7-Zip:
But the format of the entry is unknown to 7-Zip and I can't to go deeper. When I opened the entry in a hex editor I found some of the application resources content, classes names, etc.
The question is - what is a format of the entry and how can I parse it?
P.S.: It seems there should be no issues with DMG for Apple and SH for Linux - as they are regular archives and I hope I can read them in my Java code.
This is not a documented format, it is internal to the installer. You could build an additional Windows ZIP archive media file and extract that. It will have the same contents as the installer.
I've cloned it but I didn't find any .exe file, Nor do i see it in programs list in Control Panel of windows. I'am a bit confused as to what cloning means. I know that there is direct download .exe file on vim.org website. Its for sure that I'am beginner for all these. Please help. Thanks for the help in advance.
reading the "installation" section found in the README.md of the vim repo, you can see the filenames containing the instructions that will help you with the installation, depending on your OS.
README_ami.txt Amiga
README_unix.txt Unix
README_dos.txt MS-DOS and MS-Windows
README_mac.txt Macintosh
README_haiku.txt Haiku
README_vms.txt VMS
So, for the full information I suggest you go to those files, or go to the vim website where there is also good information about the installation.
Anyway, I will briefly explain below the information that those files and the vim website say for most common operating systems
If you're on Unix:
git clone https://github.com/vim/vim.git
cd vim/src
make
If you're on Mac
The Macintosh binaries are not on the Vim ftp site. They are produced by a few Macintosh lovers. Often they lag behind a few versions.
MacVim has more a Mac look and feel, is developed actively and most people prefer this version. Most of MacVim was made by Björn Winckler.
MacVim can be downloaded here: link
Or if you prefer, here is the MacVim homepage.
If you're on Windows:
The next instructions were copied from here.
Option A: Using the self-installing .exe
Go to vim.org/download.php and click on self-installing executable (or just click here) and follow the prompts.
Watch out for:
When an existing installation is detected, you are offered to first remove
this. The uninstall program is then started while the install program waits
for it to complete. Sometimes the windows overlap each other, which can be
confusing. Be sure the complete the uninstalling before continuing the
installation. Watch the taskbar for uninstall windows.
When selecting a directory to install Vim, use the same place where other
versions are located. This makes it easier to find your _vimrc file. For
example "C:\Program Files\vim" or "D:\vim". A name ending in "vim" is
preferred.
After selecting the directory where to install Vim, clicking on "Next" will
start the installation.
Option B: Using .zip files
Go to the directory where you want to put the Vim files. Examples:
cd C:\
cd D:\editors
If you already have a "vim" directory, go to the directory in which it is
located. Check the $VIM setting to see where it points to:
set VIM
For example, if you have
C:\vim\vim82
do
cd C:\
Binary and runtime Vim archives are normally unpacked in the same location,
on top of each other.
Unpack the zip archives. This will create a new directory "vim\vim82",
in which all the distributed Vim files are placed. Since the directory
name includes the version number, it is unlikely that you overwrite
existing files.
Examples:
pkunzip -d gvim82.zip
unzip vim82w32.zip
You need to unpack the runtime archive and at least one of the binary
archives. When using more than one binary version, be careful not to
overwrite one version with the other, the names of the executables
"vim.exe" and "gvim.exe" are the same.
After you unpacked the files, you can still move the whole directory tree
to another location. That is where they will stay, the install program
won't move or copy the runtime files.
Change to the new directory:
cd vim\vim82
Run the "install.exe" program. It will ask you a number of questions about
how you would like to have your Vim setup. Among these are:
You can tell it to write a "_vimrc" file with your preferences in the
parent directory.
It can also install an "Edit with Vim" entry in the Windows Explorer
popup menu.
You can have it create batch files, so that you can run Vim from the
console or in a shell. You can select one of the directories in your
$PATH. If you skip this, you can add Vim to the search path manually:
The simplest is to add a line to your autoexec.bat. Examples:
set path=%path%;C:\vim\vim82
set path=%path%;D:\editors\vim\vim82
Create entries for Vim on the desktop and in the Start menu.
That's it!
Vim is open source software, and its source code, i.e. all the technical files that make up Vim is (nowadays) hosted at GitHub.
Cloning that repository means you'll download all of those files to your computer (and with Git as the underlying revision control system, you'll even get the full history of all changes ever done). As Vim supports a very big set of very diverse platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac, ...), the repository itself does not (and should not) contain pre-built binaries, nor a full installer that most users expect to run. So, unless you have the intention to actively contribute to Vim by submitting bug fixes or enhancements, you don't need to clone or do anything with GitHub. If you do want to get technical, src/INSTALLpc.txt contains the instructions for building Vim on Windows. This includes choosing a compiler, installing it and the required dependencies, configuring the build, building, and then finally copying the files to a permanent location on your PC, either manually or by building and then running an installer.
For plain passive consumption of Vim (which is rewarding in itself, but may even lead you to eventually also programming it), the Downloading Vim page on vim.org has all the information that you need, with links to the most popular installers right at the top.
a word on versions
For a casual user, using the latest stable version is recommended; this is 8.2 right now; gvim82.exe is a corresponding installer for Windows. This offers the best compromise between stability and latest features. In the case of Vim, expect a new release roughly every year.
You'll also find development builds (something like 8.2.0740); these usually function as well and have the very latest features under development, but often are less stable. I would use these only if you really need a leading-edge feature, or want to report a bug. You should then probably update very frequently, and from there it's only a small step to actually cloning the repository and building everything on your own!
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.
When you install your product locally, all the needed files are stored in the machine.
When you set the features to Advertise, files will be installed locally when the user launches the application.
What happens then when yo set the features to "run-from-source"? I Googled it and was only able to find this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa367538%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
Thanks!
This is a rarely used feature of Windows Installer and I don't normally reccomend using it. It was invented back in a day when hard drives were small and the thought was you 'advertised' ( pretend install aka install source ) a feature and that when the user clicks the shortcut it would go to the source and finish the installation of the feature ( aka install local )
It just adds a lot of complexity to your servicing model. It's not worth it IMO.
When placing all installation files next to the MSI (similar to advertised installation), you can install features from source. This means that all files in these features will be used from the MSI location (they are not copied in the target folders during install).
Running from source can be used when the installer remains permanently on the target machine. So the application can use the installer directly instead of using installed files.
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.