dthree/cash

MSI Installer

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#9 opened on Feb 24, 2016

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 (20 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)JavaScript (7,768 stars) (253 forks)batch import
enhancementhelp wanted

Description

What all did you need for an installer? Depending on how complex you need it, I (or others) might be able to help. A couple things about installers:

  • For generating vanilla MSI Windows installers, WiX is the usual means. All the configuration is stored in XML, and it can work with Visual Studio or as a standalone tool. It can do most everything, but it requires a fair amount of knowledge to do more complex tasks. Simple folder deployments are very straightforward, though.
  • There's a lot of other installation systems, like InstallShield or NSIS that get used a lot due to be being relatively simplistic. Most often they get deployed as executable assemblies (EXEs) instead of installers.
  • You can do fancy UI wrappers around the installers (with EXE wrappers) and some limited internal UI changes, too, but I generally wouldn't bother. There are templates that give you the standard Welcome/License/Installation Path UX.
  • Building installers from non-Windows systems can be a pain. WiX requires WINE to build on Linux due to a dependency on MSI.DLL. There's a Gnome project, MSITools, that has a partial WiX implementation but finding documentation on it is a pain, so I haven't bothered looking into it.

So what did you need the installer to actually do? And is it okay if it only builds on Windows?

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
desktop
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
4
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
over 1 week
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
needs investigation
Prerequisites
WiX toolsetWindows packaging
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
30
Research direction
The issue requests an MSI installer for the cash project. The commenter seeks clarification on installation requirements (e.g., just the binary or dependencies). Research should review existing build scripts in the repo and evaluate WiX vs. NSIS, considering cross platform build constraints. The maintainer should define scope and acceptance criteria before implementation.