On Tuesday 23 Jul 2013 11:01:16 Matthew Toseland wrote: > On Monday 22 Jul 2013 11:47:17 Rom. wrote: > > Hello, > > > > I would like to expose some thoughts about the current move for the > > deployment of Freenet on windows platforms. > > > > Currently as far as i understand, toad and operhiem1 are the only to > > maintain the windows installer of Freenet. > > This Freenet installer and all Freenet EXE (freenet.exe, > > freenetlauncher.exe ) are written in AutoHotKey. > > > > Due to its limitations (Unicode support) and recurrent false positives > > from anti viruses, it has been considered to move away from AutoHotKey. > > Toad summarize thoughts here: > > https://bugs.freenetproject.org/view.php?id=5456#c9883. > > > > After reading this, i have started (with curiosity in mind) to work on > > an installer written with InnoSetup > > (https://github.com/freenet/wininstaller-staging/issues/12), which is a > > true and dedicated software for creating installer for Windows. > > Right. This looks promising. > > > > But during this process and with some previous experiences related to > > Freenet on windows (https://bitbucket.org/romnbb/freenetfortraveler) a > > question came to my mind: > > > > Does Freenet needs an installer on Windows ? > > > > What this installer currently does : > > - Check port availability and writing settings in freenet.ini file > > before its first launch. > > - Determine how much ram to allocate to java (wrapper.java.maxmemory) > > - Extract all Freenet related files > > > > What if Freenet package is provided as a Zip file > > (Toad post: https://bugs.freenetproject.org/view.php?id=5842) and all > > pre-required settings handled, at a "First launch step", by the main > > program on windows : Freenet.exe (aka Freenet Tray) ? > > > > Upsides: > > - A simple zip file can easily fits the maintainability requirement. > > Files that change the most are related to the core of freenet > > (freenet.jar, plugins and maybe others) not those related to windows. > > - There is no doubts or problems creating zip files natively from Linux. > > How will antiviruses deal with it? Will the file insight type thingies still > complain about it because it's not a file they've seen before? Or will they > only look at the files inside it? If a zip file bypasses the need to deal > with this, it'd be sensible; if not, it probably makes more sense to have a > discrete installer. > > One thing we've been considering is uploading to the website a few days after > we've uploaded to auto-update. All nodes download the installer, so the file > will at least be "visible", although it won't have been run. We could even > run it, with some no-op flag, but that would probably be more trouble than > it's worth. > > > > Downsides: > > - Users need to know what to do with this Zip file. That, most probably, > > why Installers are commonly used on Windows : user will click, click , > > click , click ... (without reading most of the time...) > > Right. It may make it a bit harder. Which is bad, and can only be tolerated > if it's offset by fewer problems with AV's. > > > - Handle of pre-settings must be ported to the main program (freenet.exe). > > > > And with that come an other related question. > > If so, what to do about Freenet.exe (freenet tray), which is the desktop > > interface between Users and Freenet main interface (freenet proxy). > > Keep using AutoHotKey ? Re-write it in another language (Java ? > > FreePascal ?). > > As far as AV's are concerned, AHK isn't ideal, but if they've seen the file > before they're less likely to complain about it; if these files are updated > infrequently, we can probably get away with it? > > > > Maybe i have missed some important things about this deployment on > > windows that can changed my thoughts if i am aware of. > > > > So, feedbacks are welcome. > > > > > > Whatever the direction taken, i will gladly help to maintain the windows > > side of Freenet :) . > > Awesome! > > > > Best regards, > > Romain. > > > > > > PS: sorry if my english appears to be a bit "crude". It's not my native > > language and long text doesn't help. > > Your english is fine above. > One other thing: For invites, we'd probably end up distributing a zip, with some extra files, which the installer would recognise and deal with.
So the big question is, will an AV always flag a foreign zip file, or will it only concern itself with the executables inside that zip file?
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