Building an msi just adds complication. I also have not seen any open source tools to do it either. In reality an msi is just a microsoft compressed database format they invented. Because typical installers write to registry using an msi prevents you from running more than one at the same time. In the case of the QGIS installer and other products on the osgeo4w, the exe doesn't actually write to the registry. It's more like a self extracted zip file, that also creates shortcuts.
The normal qgis installer was also exe based as it is built using the extremely common open source installer tool from Nullsoft (the makers of winamp) In terms of security, there's no reason to think an msi is any more secure than an exe and running msi require that the end user always have the correct windows installer library installed. Since Microsoft no longer supports some older versions of windows, if a Visual Studio tool was used to build the installer there's a chance older(Win2k,WinXP) users would be out of luck. Alex [email protected] wrote: >> Hello list. >> Thanks everyone for the great work done with OSGeo4W. >> I have a strange (maybe) question. I suppose that osgeo4w setup.exe is >> a fork of the cygwin's setup. Is it possible to view/download its >> source code? > >> Thanks, Giovanni > > I have a different question. > > Is setup.exe the best way to install software on microsoft windows? > > Has Windows Installer, that is an .msi file been considered? > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_installer > > I know that my IT section has a strong preference for software > to be installed via .msi. > > Regards, > nick > > > *********************************************************************** > WARNING: This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain legally > privileged, confidential or private information and may be protected by > copyright. You may only use it if you are the person(s) it was intended > to be sent to and if you use it in an authorised way. No one is > allowed to use, review, alter, transmit, disclose, distribute, print > or copy this e-mail without appropriate authority. > > If this e-mail was not intended for you and was sent to you by mistake, > please telephone or e-mail me immediately, destroy any hardcopies of > this e-mail and delete it and any copies of it from your computer > system. Any right which the sender may have under copyright law, and > any legal privilege and confidentiality attached to this e-mail is not > waived or destroyed by that mistake. > > It is your responsibility to ensure that this e-mail does not contain > and is not affected by computer viruses, defects or interference by > third parties or replication problems (including incompatibility with > your computer system). > > Opinions contained in this e-mail do not necessarily reflect the > opinions of the Queensland Department of Main Roads, Queensland > Transport or Maritime Safety Queensland, or endorsed organisations > utilising the same infrastructure. > *********************************************************************** > _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
