Installation for MASM32

[Shantanu Gadgil]

Hi,
Some time back I had suggested making an installer for MASM32 using NSIS...it had snowballed into a lot of things (some people thought NSIS is like MSI and requires some runtime engine or something installed)

Anyway...just to be clear...NSIS will create a STANDALONE exe!

Moving on...the last time round, I didn't know how to enforce the MASM32 directory on the root of the drive, now I can!  :U :P

So attaching the sample. It contains the NSIS script (will need NSIS installed to compile, the finaller installer will be a STANDALONE exe)
Also attaching a sample EXE to demonstrate how the installer would function.

If anyone is interested in making the installer themselves, you will need the "install.exe" extracted alongside the "masm32.nsi" file

Looking forward to ideas, suggestions, etc! :)

Regards,
Shantanu Gadgil

[attachment deleted by admin]

[hutch--]

Shantanu,

I understand you mean well but the MASM32 project will never use an external freeware installer. If I wanted to use a conventional installer, it would be a commercial installer for no other reason than the MASM32 project will never be beholding to any other form of software or different licence. The other alternative is a standard Microsoft MSI installation which I may do one day but the masm32 project is written purely in masm and it does exactly what I require.

It does not make any form of installation into the operating system al all and this includes an uninstallation as it is part of its original design to not dump any junk into the registry at all or add any system file or modify any systme files when it is installed.

The other thing is the MASM32 project is copyright software as are all of its components so under no circumstances is it to be repackaged or redistributed in a Nullsoft Installer of any flavour. The project is unconditionaly independent and that will never be compromised.

[Shantanu Gadgil]

I have no idea how/why the NSIS license might compromise the free existense of MASM32 package, but as you have so eloquently :P put it...

I understand you mean well but the MASM32 project will never use an external freeware installer

...so I guess topic closed! :)

[zcoder]

I don't understand that eather.
I see that even aplib is or was free, for none profit use
so I see no difference.

Zcoder....

[Mark Jones]

Hutch, the installer does make an uninstall entry in the registry, but that's the only entry. Most installed programs nowadays make uninstall entries, which take up a trivial amount of disk space and resources. But still, I see why you want to keep MASM32 wholesome and "pure." The MASM32 installer does what it is supposed to do, and is not an outside product.

Shantanu, your current script limits the installation to C:-F:. What if someone wanted to install to M:?

RadASM has a plug-in for NSIS scripts. Maybe you'd like to make a short tutorial or sample project about how to use NSIS for other apps.

[Shantanu Gadgil]

your current script limits the installation to C:-F:

To Mark,
Er...how is that, I am confused. The "callback" code to see if the installation directory is there with NSIS itself, I have not written anything special!
The code (in the script) I have written only checks if letters from the 4th location (array 3) to the next 6 letters are "MASM32" and no more!!!

The installer is also a "quickly thrown together" version, hardly any detailed checks, just to let people in on "how it might look".

Side note: The current script DOES make some reg entries, which can easily be removed (commented)!!!

[Mark Jones]

Oh, my mistake Shantanu, it will only allow installation to existing (detected) HDD partitions. M: was a removable drive in my case, and was not mounted.

[hutch--]

Licencing is a reasonably tricky business and you have to keep track on every item within the package to ensure that there are no other consdierations at all that effect the licence for the software that you are putting together. I have permission from the owners of every item in the project which of course includes stuff I have written myself and this maintains the complete independence of the project from any other licencing considerations at all.

The other factor is of course that MASM is easily powerful enough to write an installation of this type with so it has priority over any packaged installation methods on the market. I would be inclined to think that if a language is not powerful enough to do something that is basically simple as long as you get the OS version compatibility right, then it would not be all that much use as a general purpose language.

I have no doubt that the NullSoft installer works OK and I have seen various installations that use it successfully but I don't like its layout as it apes a number of commercial installers with facilities that I simply don't want or need with a project like MASM32. Nor does the MASM32 install need sequential dialog boxes as it does not use that format at all. It uses a 7Zip archive from my licenced copy of 7Zip which is converted to an object module and linked into the installer. It is written to disk by the installation and run as a seperate EXE file to place the files on disk.

[Ghirai]

I perfectly understand what hutch says.
Besides, probably lots of people (like me) *hate* traditional installers.

IMO the current distribution form is great :U