Martin, What is the rationale behind using an MSI ? Has anyone attempted to create a Python installer using something a bit simpler, like NSIS [ http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page]? If not, what are the reasons?
Joe On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 3:03 PM, "Martin v. Löwis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > > I always wondered why it was necessary to write msi.py in the first > > place. Maintaining it is surely a big effort and requires understanding > > of a dark library which a few people have (IMO it's a much higher effort > > than setting up automated tests in a bunch of VM, which you said is "not > > worth it"). > > > > There are plenty of MSI installer generator programs > > Originally it was written because none of the MSI generator programs > were capable of packaging Python. In particular, none was capable of > creating 64-bit packages (which were first needed to create the > Itanium packages). > > > and Python's needs > > do not seem so weird to require a custom MSI generator. > > Python's needs are fairly weird, so I'm very skeptical that any other > generator is capable of doing what msi.py does (or, if it was capable > of doing that, that it was then any simpler than msi.py). > > The critical part is that you need a powerful way to specify what files > to package (having to select them in a UI is unacceptable, as the set > of files constantly changes - the current generator can cope with many > types of file additions without needing any change). > > > I'm sure the > > Python Software Foundation would easily get a free license of one of the > > good commercial MSI installer generators. > > Can you recommend a specific one? > > In addition, I'm also skeptical wrt. commercial setup tools. We had been > using Wise for a while, and it was a management problem because the > license was only available on a single machine - so it was difficult > for anybody else to jump in and do a release. > > > In short: if msi.py and the fact it breaks is part of the issue here, > > it's very easy to solve in my opinion. > > I'm very skeptical that this statement is actually true. > > Regards, > Martin > _______________________________________________ > Python-Dev mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev > Unsubscribe: > http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/josepharmbruster%40gmail.com >
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