CODEWITHSUNDEEP
nsisrequired
Jason at UBot
Jason at UBot

Reputation: 11

What files are required to use NSIS? I am bundling it with another product, so users can create their own installers

I have what might be a simple question and might be....a more complex one. We are preparing to add NSIS to our software, that is, we want people who use our software to be able to create installers using NSIS, but through our software. (We'll be creating functions using NSIS, acknowledging NSIS, etc.) What I am trying to figure out before we get started is how many/what files our customers will be required to have on their hard drive for NSIS to work. So, we just need to know if nsis can be used standalone or if it requires the user to install it into program files, or if it requires a lot of different files in AppData - If we have to bundle a few .dlls, that's not a problem and is expected. Ultimately, if we end up having to bundle NSIS as well, that's fine - We just want to make sure it'll work on other people's computers without telling them to go download it.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 807

Answers (2)

Anders
Anders

Reputation: 101636

MakeNSIS does not read/write from/to the registry or anywhere else and only needs a handful of files for minimal operation.

To build a simple installer you need:

  • NSIS\MakeNSIS.exe (Just calls Bin\MakeNSIS.exe)
  • NSIS\Bin\MakeNSIS.exe
  • NSIS\Stubs\* (If you are only going to use a specific compression mode you only need one, and the uninstaller file if you want uninstall capability)

If you want to use the Modern UI you need its header files, some files from Contrib (Graphics and UI) and system.dll and nsDialogs.dll from the plugin folder.

Everything else is optional but I would recommend that you also bundle:

  • NSIS\Include
  • NSIS\Plugins (You can remove stuff you will never need; dialer, splash etc)
  • NSIS\Contrib (Language files, graphics and UI)

You can find license information here.

You could also just ask the user to install it and enter the path to it in your setup program...

Upvotes: 3

Joshua McKinnon
Joshua McKinnon

Reputation: 24709

I would just include all of the files. (It's only 5MB or so) NSIS has a zip archive as well as exe installer that includes the necessary files. (Or just zip up the installed directory from exe installer).

From my experience, NSIS does not need to be installed to work. I run a fleet of build servers that build NSIS-based installers, and they each just have the files extracted in a directory. The installer is never run on them. This should mean there are no DLLs to register or things like that.

Just make sure you are following whatever their licensing terms are - I have not reviewed redistribution/bundling of their files in another product, since that is not something I do.

Upvotes: 1

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