Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
Troy Laurin wrote: Swoogan wrote: John Cole wrote: There was a discussion on this topic a few months ago. The main point of contention was installing NAnt/NAntContrib to the same directory or not and whether or not to include NAntContrib at all in the installer. I was warring with the same dilema as far as NAnt/NAntContrib. My plan was to install to the same directory as NAnt because, AFAIK, the assemblies have to go into the NAnt bin dir (or a relative path off of it) for NAnt to load them. I was going to make the doc directory install as nantcontrib-doc and nant install into nant-doc or just doc. For the record, there are currently three basic alternatives for installing NAntContrib... 1) Install NAntContrib to the same folder as NAnt. PRO: NAntContrib is automatically detected in all NAnt builds with no further work CON: The combination is fragile. NAntContrib needs to be completely reinstalled if NAnt is reinstalled (?) CON: Difficult to remove NAntContrib if you no longer want it (for some reason), even for a single build script 2) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, tinker with NAnt.exe.config to load the NAntContrib dlls PRO: NAnt/Contrib installation decoupled CON: Have to tinker with NAnt.exe.config CON: Still difficult to remove NAntContrib for instances you don't want to use it 3) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, add a line in every build script that uses NAnt tasks. PRO: NAnt/Contrib installation decoupled CON: Extra overhead in each build script. Currently, also creates non-portable scripts unless this method becomes standardised. Perhaps we should explore a new mechanism for extension libraries in NAnt, with inspiration taken from the Java jre/lib/ext idea... 4) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, and add an xml descriptor/locator in NAnt/bin/ext which describes the library. NAnt could scan the bin/ext folder for descriptors on startup in a similar fashion to the NAnt.exe.config method, but this allows for specific support such as disabling all extension libraries, or disabling a named library when invoking NAnt. PRO: Libraries decoupled from NAnt installation PRO: Libraries "automatically" discovered on NAnt startup PRO: Libraries can be easily registered/deregistered by adding or removing their own locator... there's no possibility of corrupting your NAnt install by breaking the xml structure - just one library. CON: It's not implemented yet The other thing I like about this approach is that is allows extension to namespaces in the future... the namespace can be specified in the xml locator (by default uses the default namespace), or the namespace for a named library can be overridden from the commandline when invoking NAnt (In case of a namespace clash with a particular build script). Also, it would be reasonably simple to create a (and ?) NAntContrib task to create this locator dynamically. Thoughts? Regarding installing/downloading NAntContrib in the NAnt installer, does the Inno download feature support a local-cached copy of the downloaded module, say if you were installing NAnt on many developer machines you don't want to have to download NAntContrib each time... if so, this sounds like an excellent compromise! Inno doesn't support that natively, but that's exactly what I'm doing with my installer at work. Inno supports Pascal scripting at install and uninstall time. So, I've already written code that checks to see if the downloadable component is adjacent to the installer at runtime. If it isn't, it's added to the list of components to download. I had a slightly different problem in mind when I wrote it, namely, CD based installations. Swoogan --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers
Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
Ian MacLean wrote: Perhaps we should explore a new mechanism for extension libraries in NAnt, with inspiration taken from the Java jre/lib/ext idea... 4) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, and add an xml descriptor/locator in NAnt/bin/ext which describes the library. why not extend NAnt.exe.config rather than adding another config file. One of the things I like about the Nant model is that you don't *need* to have a task registration scheme the way Ant does because of the attribute based auto-scan mechanism. I'm looking at a principle of minimisation of damage. No matter how badly you (or some automated task) break the xml structure for the library you are trying to install (or modify or uninstall), you can't stop anything but your library from working. Conversely, if NAnt.exe.config doesn't parse, NAnt doesn't work. I'm not talking about describing the tasks in the locator, just a simple xml file in the order of: Optional tasks for NAnt Also, it would be reasonably simple to create a (and ?) NAntContrib task to create this locator dynamically. except that you couldn't register NAntContrib itself if you didn't already have it registered in order to be able to use those tasks :) The NAntContrib build script could use to load its own tasks before registering itself. As a bonus, it provides a poor man's self-test mechanism... if the tasks don't load, it can't register itself ;-) I just think such a "register" task belongs more in NAntContrib than NAnt core. I still think that it would be better to extend the existing config file extra functionality is required. It already allows you to specify paths to scan for assemblies and I think to exclude specific assemblies. But not to give assemblies or groups of assemblies names, so you could then exclude those assemblies when running a particular build script through commandline options. It may be the case that this last isn't a good idea, I still think that multiple xml fragments is less fragile and more manageable than one mammoth xml file... not only for the damage minimisation, but because you can easily tell (at a glance) what libraries are set up in a particular installation by scanning a directory, but scanning through an xml file to see which assemblies are referenced is more time consuming. Regards, -- Troy --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers
Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
Perhaps we should explore a new mechanism for extension libraries in NAnt, with inspiration taken from the Java jre/lib/ext idea... 4) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, and add an xml descriptor/locator in NAnt/bin/ext which describes the library. NAnt could scan the bin/ext folder for descriptors on startup in a similar fashion to the NAnt.exe.config method, but this allows for specific support such as disabling all extension libraries, or disabling a named library when invoking NAnt. why not extend NAnt.exe.config rather than adding another config file. One of the things I like about the Nant model is that you don't *need* to have a task registration scheme the way Ant does because of the attribute based auto-scan mechanism. PRO: Libraries decoupled from NAnt installation PRO: Libraries "automatically" discovered on NAnt startup not really - only if that xml file has been setup. PRO: Libraries can be easily registered/deregistered by adding or removing their own locator... there's no possibility of corrupting your NAnt install by breaking the xml structure - just one library. CON: It's not implemented yet The other thing I like about this approach is that is allows extension to namespaces in the future... the namespace can be specified in the xml locator (by default uses the default namespace), or the namespace for a named library can be overridden from the commandline when invoking NAnt (In case of a namespace clash with a particular build script). Also, it would be reasonably simple to create a (and ?) NAntContrib task to create this locator dynamically. except that you couldn't register NAntContrib itself if you didn't already have it registered in order to be able to use those tasks :) I still think that it would be better to extend the existing config file extra functionality is required. It already allows you to specify paths to scan for assemblies and I think to exclude specific assemblies. Ian --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers
RE: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
I agree completely that installing on top of an existing NAnt installtion would be quite rude :-). Maybe a "buyer beware" clause ought to apply. I can't see how one can reasonably detect the presence of a NAnt installation short of scanning all disks for NAnt.exe! -Original Message- From: Troy Laurin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 16 February 2005 5:40 PM To: nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: RE: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution. >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>Option 4 looks like an elegant (but long term) solution. How about a >another >>radical proposal: If there's interest, I might be able to put together a proof-of-concept this weekend. >>The NAntContrib installer also installs a suitable version of NAnt >>PROS: One install installs both. Environment vars, paths all fixed >up >>correctly. Suitable versions of NAnt/Contrib released as a package. >>CONS: Tightly coupled (joined at the hip more like). If NAntContrib >lags (in >>releases), you don't get the latest version of NAnt (easily anyway). This sounds like a reasonable immediate compromise, but what would the NAntContrib installer do if NAnt (by itself) was already installed? Installing over-the-top might be a bit rude :-) -- Troy Snipped parts of this thread can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/nant-developers%40lists.sourceforge.net/ms g0.html The mailing list archive looks much nicer than it used to, incidentally :-) --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_ide95&alloc_id396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers
RE: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>Option 4 looks like an elegant (but long term) solution. How about a >another >>radical proposal: If there's interest, I might be able to put together a proof-of-concept this weekend. >>The NAntContrib installer also installs a suitable version of NAnt >>PROS: One install installs both. Environment vars, paths all fixed >up >>correctly. Suitable versions of NAnt/Contrib released as a package. >>CONS: Tightly coupled (joined at the hip more like). If NAntContrib >lags (in >>releases), you don't get the latest version of NAnt (easily anyway). This sounds like a reasonable immediate compromise, but what would the NAntContrib installer do if NAnt (by itself) was already installed? Installing over-the-top might be a bit rude :-) -- Troy Snipped parts of this thread can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/nant-developers%40lists.sourceforge.net/ms g0.html The mailing list archive looks much nicer than it used to, incidentally :-) --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_ide95&alloc_id396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers
Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
John Cole wrote: There was a discussion on this topic a few months ago. The main point of contention was installing NAnt/NAntContrib to the same directory or not and whether or not to include NAntContrib at all in the installer. My feelings remain the same. Use the MSI target as is. It works great, its ready to go, and it fully exercises the MSM and MSI tasks. I agree - although maybe pull out the NAntContib tasks for now - make them a seperate installer. Building a MSI task with the nightly builds would also make sure the MSM and MSI tasks are tested too :-) There is a certain amount of elegance with a NAnt built MSI of NAnt/NAntContrib. Sort of eating your own dog food. :-) I have been building and using the NAnt built MSI to install NAnt on developer machines here for over 6 months. great - so we know they have been road tested. Ian I haven't tested rc2 yet, but I plan on doing that today. My last build was 1/11 and it worked fine then. John Cole -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Geurts Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 8:24 AM To: Ian MacLean Cc: Swoogan; nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution. I agree that a win32 install would be a nice addition to NAnt. I think it could get some people using NAnt that would otherwise shy away from it... The install script in NAntContrib is functional, to the best of my knowledge. It just hasn't been used to generate official installs. I would say that if it's easier for more people to support innosetup over traditional msi, then we should go that route. Otherwise, if it really doesn't buy us anything, then I would stick with the msi targets in NAntContrib. On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 13:37:32 +0900, Ian MacLean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi Swoogan, I wrote an installer script for Inno Setup (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php) for NAnt distribution around my office and I would like to contribute it. Besides copying the files, it adds the nant bin directory the environment path and creates a registry entry pointing to the installation path for third party apps to reference (such as the NAnt-contrib installer I intend to create). You can download the installer here (perhaps we can move this to sourceforge if you like what you see): http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt-0.85-rc2-setup.exe looks pretty cool. NAnt certainly needs a win32 installer. I think there is a build file in NAntContrib to create a nant msi but I'm not sure if its been decided to ship that - certainly its been there for ages and we haven't shipped an msi installer yet. So I guess now is as good a time to decide. Do we want to : a) go with the msi based installer ( has the virtue of exercising the msi tasks ) b) use Swoogan's innosetup installer ( seems simpler than full blown msi ) c) somthing else ? btw is InnoSetup free/opensource - I don't have internet acesss right now to check. oh and how easy would it be to add an installer dialog page that finds the list of available frameworks ( from the registry ) and allows the user to select the one they would like to use as the default ? Ian The script I used to create the installer can be found here http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt_installer.zip You will need Inno Setup to compile the script (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isdl.php). I simply unzip the zipped binary distribution from SF and drop the script in the root. Running it from there creates an 'installer' dir where the compiled installer is placed. I've also included a simple nant task for creating the installer from a nant build file in the zip file. The tag is simply: (really just a substitution for using ). This task requires that Inno Setup 5 be installed. Swoogan --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid
RE: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
My humble 2c worth ... Option 4 looks like an elegant (but long term) solution. How about a another radical proposal: The NAntContrib installer also installs a suitable version of NAnt PROS: One install installs both. Environment vars, paths all fixed up correctly. Suitable versions of NAnt/Contrib released as a package. CONS: Tightly coupled (joined at the hip more like). If NAntContrib lags (in releases), you don't get the latest version of NAnt (easily anyway). ... could be a completely wacky idea though ... Regards Subbu -Original Message- From: Troy Laurin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 16 February 2005 10:58 AM To: nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution. Swoogan wrote: > John Cole wrote: > >> There was a discussion on this topic a few months ago. The main point of >> contention was installing NAnt/NAntContrib to the same directory or >> not and >> whether or not to include NAntContrib at all in the installer. > > I was warring with the same dilema as far as NAnt/NAntContrib. My plan > was to install to the same directory as NAnt because, AFAIK, the > assemblies have to go into the NAnt bin dir (or a relative path off of > it) for NAnt to load them. I was going to make the doc directory > install as nantcontrib-doc and nant install into nant-doc or just doc. For the record, there are currently three basic alternatives for installing NAntContrib... 1) Install NAntContrib to the same folder as NAnt. PRO: NAntContrib is automatically detected in all NAnt builds with no further work CON: The combination is fragile. NAntContrib needs to be completely reinstalled if NAnt is reinstalled (?) CON: Difficult to remove NAntContrib if you no longer want it (for some reason), even for a single build script 2) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, tinker with NAnt.exe.config to load the NAntContrib dlls PRO: NAnt/Contrib installation decoupled CON: Have to tinker with NAnt.exe.config CON: Still difficult to remove NAntContrib for instances you don't want to use it 3) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, add a line in every build script that uses NAnt tasks. PRO: NAnt/Contrib installation decoupled CON: Extra overhead in each build script. Currently, also creates non-portable scripts unless this method becomes standardised. Perhaps we should explore a new mechanism for extension libraries in NAnt, with inspiration taken from the Java jre/lib/ext idea... 4) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, and add an xml descriptor/locator in NAnt/bin/ext which describes the library. NAnt could scan the bin/ext folder for descriptors on startup in a similar fashion to the NAnt.exe.config method, but this allows for specific support such as disabling all extension libraries, or disabling a named library when invoking NAnt. PRO: Libraries decoupled from NAnt installation PRO: Libraries "automatically" discovered on NAnt startup PRO: Libraries can be easily registered/deregistered by adding or removing their own locator... there's no possibility of corrupting your NAnt install by breaking the xml structure - just one library. CON: It's not implemented yet The other thing I like about this approach is that is allows extension to namespaces in the future... the namespace can be specified in the xml locator (by default uses the default namespace), or the namespace for a named library can be overridden from the commandline when invoking NAnt (In case of a namespace clash with a particular build script). Also, it would be reasonably simple to create a (and ?) NAntContrib task to create this locator dynamically. Thoughts? Regarding installing/downloading NAntContrib in the NAnt installer, does the Inno download feature support a local-cached copy of the downloaded module, say if you were installing NAnt on many developer machines you don't want to have to download NAntContrib each time... if so, this sounds like an excellent compromise! Phew, longwinded. Regards, -- Troy --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click _
Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
Swoogan wrote: John Cole wrote: There was a discussion on this topic a few months ago. The main point of contention was installing NAnt/NAntContrib to the same directory or not and whether or not to include NAntContrib at all in the installer. I was warring with the same dilema as far as NAnt/NAntContrib. My plan was to install to the same directory as NAnt because, AFAIK, the assemblies have to go into the NAnt bin dir (or a relative path off of it) for NAnt to load them. I was going to make the doc directory install as nantcontrib-doc and nant install into nant-doc or just doc. For the record, there are currently three basic alternatives for installing NAntContrib... 1) Install NAntContrib to the same folder as NAnt. PRO: NAntContrib is automatically detected in all NAnt builds with no further work CON: The combination is fragile. NAntContrib needs to be completely reinstalled if NAnt is reinstalled (?) CON: Difficult to remove NAntContrib if you no longer want it (for some reason), even for a single build script 2) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, tinker with NAnt.exe.config to load the NAntContrib dlls PRO: NAnt/Contrib installation decoupled CON: Have to tinker with NAnt.exe.config CON: Still difficult to remove NAntContrib for instances you don't want to use it 3) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, add a line in every build script that uses NAnt tasks. PRO: NAnt/Contrib installation decoupled CON: Extra overhead in each build script. Currently, also creates non-portable scripts unless this method becomes standardised. Perhaps we should explore a new mechanism for extension libraries in NAnt, with inspiration taken from the Java jre/lib/ext idea... 4) Install NAntContrib to a different folder, and add an xml descriptor/locator in NAnt/bin/ext which describes the library. NAnt could scan the bin/ext folder for descriptors on startup in a similar fashion to the NAnt.exe.config method, but this allows for specific support such as disabling all extension libraries, or disabling a named library when invoking NAnt. PRO: Libraries decoupled from NAnt installation PRO: Libraries "automatically" discovered on NAnt startup PRO: Libraries can be easily registered/deregistered by adding or removing their own locator... there's no possibility of corrupting your NAnt install by breaking the xml structure - just one library. CON: It's not implemented yet The other thing I like about this approach is that is allows extension to namespaces in the future... the namespace can be specified in the xml locator (by default uses the default namespace), or the namespace for a named library can be overridden from the commandline when invoking NAnt (In case of a namespace clash with a particular build script). Also, it would be reasonably simple to create a (and ?) NAntContrib task to create this locator dynamically. Thoughts? Regarding installing/downloading NAntContrib in the NAnt installer, does the Inno download feature support a local-cached copy of the downloaded module, say if you were installing NAnt on many developer machines you don't want to have to download NAntContrib each time... if so, this sounds like an excellent compromise! Phew, longwinded. Regards, -- Troy --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers
Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
John Cole wrote: There was a discussion on this topic a few months ago. The main point of contention was installing NAnt/NAntContrib to the same directory or not and whether or not to include NAntContrib at all in the installer. My feelings remain the same. Use the MSI target as is. It works great, its ready to go, and it fully exercises the MSM and MSI tasks. Building a MSI task with the nightly builds would also make sure the MSM and MSI tasks are tested too :-) There is a certain amount of elegance with a NAnt built MSI of NAnt/NAntContrib. Sort of eating your own dog food. :-) I have been building and using the NAnt built MSI to install NAnt on developer machines here for over 6 months. I haven't tested rc2 yet, but I plan on doing that today. My last build was 1/11 and it worked fine then. John Cole I was warring with the same dilema as far as NAnt/NAntContrib. My plan was to install to the same directory as NAnt because, AFAIK, the assemblies have to go into the NAnt bin dir (or a relative path off of it) for NAnt to load them. I was going to make the doc directory install as nantcontrib-doc and nant install into nant-doc or just doc. I figured for the NAntContrib installer I would detect the NAnt install dir from the registry (hence the registry entry I add in the NAnt installer). Then I would have a checkbox asking if they want the NAntContrib dir to be the same as NAnt and a textbox/browse button showing the NAnt install directory. If they uncheck the checkbox, another dialog would show up next asking them to browse to a new directory for the NAntContrib install. However, if another directory was selected, the installer would only install the docs there. Inno Setup has a web download feature that works really well (in fact the Inno team uses it in their installer). So, another possibility that I was toying with was adding a dialog, to the NAnt installer, that would ask the user if they wanted to download NAntContrib. If they checked the checkbox, NAntContrib would be downloaded and installed in the background. Having said all that, I agree with your statement about eating your own dog food. Also, since the work is already done it does make sense to use the MSI. I simply created the Inno installer because I didn't realize there was already an installer available (albiet you do have to build it yourself) and because I'd as soon work with Windows Installer again as bash my head into a wall. Also, Inno is open source. Colin -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Geurts Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 8:24 AM To: Ian MacLean Cc: Swoogan; nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution. I agree that a win32 install would be a nice addition to NAnt. I think it could get some people using NAnt that would otherwise shy away from it... The install script in NAntContrib is functional, to the best of my knowledge. It just hasn't been used to generate official installs. I would say that if it's easier for more people to support innosetup over traditional msi, then we should go that route. Otherwise, if it really doesn't buy us anything, then I would stick with the msi targets in NAntContrib. On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 13:37:32 +0900, Ian MacLean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi Swoogan, I wrote an installer script for Inno Setup (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php) for NAnt distribution around my office and I would like to contribute it. Besides copying the files, it adds the nant bin directory the environment path and creates a registry entry pointing to the installation path for third party apps to reference (such as the NAnt-contrib installer I intend to create). You can download the installer here (perhaps we can move this to sourceforge if you like what you see): http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt-0.85-rc2-setup.exe looks pretty cool. NAnt certainly needs a win32 installer. I think there is a build file in NAntContrib to create a nant msi but I'm not sure if its been decided to ship that - certainly its been there for ages and we haven't shipped an msi installer yet. So I guess now is as good a time to decide. Do we want to : a) go with the msi based installer ( has the virtue of exercising the msi tasks ) b) use Swoogan's innosetup installer ( seems simpler than full blown msi ) c) somthing else ? btw is InnoSetup free/opensource - I don't have internet acesss right now to check. oh and how easy would it be to add an installer dialog page that finds the list of available frameworks ( from the registry ) and allows the user to select the one they would like to use as the default ? Ian The script I used to create the installer can be found here http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt_installer.zip You will need Inno Setup to compile the script (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isdl.p
RE: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
There was a discussion on this topic a few months ago. The main point of contention was installing NAnt/NAntContrib to the same directory or not and whether or not to include NAntContrib at all in the installer. My feelings remain the same. Use the MSI target as is. It works great, its ready to go, and it fully exercises the MSM and MSI tasks. Building a MSI task with the nightly builds would also make sure the MSM and MSI tasks are tested too :-) There is a certain amount of elegance with a NAnt built MSI of NAnt/NAntContrib. Sort of eating your own dog food. :-) I have been building and using the NAnt built MSI to install NAnt on developer machines here for over 6 months. I haven't tested rc2 yet, but I plan on doing that today. My last build was 1/11 and it worked fine then. John Cole -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Geurts Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 8:24 AM To: Ian MacLean Cc: Swoogan; nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution. I agree that a win32 install would be a nice addition to NAnt. I think it could get some people using NAnt that would otherwise shy away from it... The install script in NAntContrib is functional, to the best of my knowledge. It just hasn't been used to generate official installs. I would say that if it's easier for more people to support innosetup over traditional msi, then we should go that route. Otherwise, if it really doesn't buy us anything, then I would stick with the msi targets in NAntContrib. On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 13:37:32 +0900, Ian MacLean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Hi Swoogan, > > > I wrote an installer script for Inno Setup > > (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php) for NAnt distribution around my > > office and I would like to contribute it. Besides copying the files, it > > adds the nant bin directory the environment path and creates a registry > > entry pointing to the installation path for third party apps to > > reference (such as the NAnt-contrib installer I intend to create). > > > > You can download the installer here (perhaps we can move this to > > sourceforge if you like what you see): > > http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt-0.85-rc2-setup.exe > > looks pretty cool. NAnt certainly needs a win32 installer. I think there > is a build file in NAntContrib to create a nant msi but I'm not sure if > its been decided to ship that - certainly its been there for ages and we > haven't shipped an msi installer yet. > > So I guess now is as good a time to decide. Do we want to : > a) go with the msi based installer ( has the virtue of exercising the > msi tasks ) > b) use Swoogan's innosetup installer ( seems simpler than full blown msi ) > c) somthing else ? > > btw is InnoSetup free/opensource - I don't have internet acesss right > now to check. > > oh and how easy would it be to add an installer dialog page that finds > the list of available frameworks ( from the registry ) and allows the > user to select the one they would like to use as the default ? > > Ian > > > > > > The script I used to create the installer can be found here > > http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt_installer.zip > > You will need Inno Setup to compile the script > > (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isdl.php). I simply unzip the zipped > > binary distribution from SF and drop the script in the root. Running > > it from there creates an 'installer' dir where the compiled installer > > is placed. > > > > I've also included a simple nant task for creating the installer from a > > nant build file in the zip file. The tag is simply: > > (really just a substitution for using > > ). This task requires that Inno Setup 5 be installed. > > > > > > Swoogan > > > > > > > > --- > > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. > > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. > > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click > > ___ > > nant-developers mailing list > > nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers > > --- > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. > http://ads.o
Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
I agree that a win32 install would be a nice addition to NAnt. I think it could get some people using NAnt that would otherwise shy away from it... The install script in NAntContrib is functional, to the best of my knowledge. It just hasn't been used to generate official installs. I would say that if it's easier for more people to support innosetup over traditional msi, then we should go that route. Otherwise, if it really doesn't buy us anything, then I would stick with the msi targets in NAntContrib. On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 13:37:32 +0900, Ian MacLean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Hi Swoogan, > > > I wrote an installer script for Inno Setup > > (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php) for NAnt distribution around my > > office and I would like to contribute it. Besides copying the files, it > > adds the nant bin directory the environment path and creates a registry > > entry pointing to the installation path for third party apps to > > reference (such as the NAnt-contrib installer I intend to create). > > > > You can download the installer here (perhaps we can move this to > > sourceforge if you like what you see): > > http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt-0.85-rc2-setup.exe > > looks pretty cool. NAnt certainly needs a win32 installer. I think there > is a build file in NAntContrib to create a nant msi but I'm not sure if > its been decided to ship that - certainly its been there for ages and we > haven't shipped an msi installer yet. > > So I guess now is as good a time to decide. Do we want to : > a) go with the msi based installer ( has the virtue of exercising the > msi tasks ) > b) use Swoogan's innosetup installer ( seems simpler than full blown msi ) > c) somthing else ? > > btw is InnoSetup free/opensource - I don't have internet acesss right > now to check. > > oh and how easy would it be to add an installer dialog page that finds > the list of available frameworks ( from the registry ) and allows the > user to select the one they would like to use as the default ? > > Ian > > > > > > The script I used to create the installer can be found here > > http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt_installer.zip > > You will need Inno Setup to compile the script > > (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isdl.php). I simply unzip the zipped > > binary distribution from SF and drop the script in the root. Running > > it from there creates an 'installer' dir where the compiled installer > > is placed. > > > > I've also included a simple nant task for creating the installer from a > > nant build file in the zip file. The tag is simply: > > (really just a substitution for using > > ). This task requires that Inno Setup 5 be installed. > > > > > > Swoogan > > > > > > > > --- > > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. > > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. > > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click > > ___ > > nant-developers mailing list > > nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers > > --- > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click > ___ > nant-developers mailing list > nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers > --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers
Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
Ian MacLean wrote: Hi Swoogan, I wrote an installer script for Inno Setup (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php) for NAnt distribution around my office and I would like to contribute it. Besides copying the files, it adds the nant bin directory the environment path and creates a registry entry pointing to the installation path for third party apps to reference (such as the NAnt-contrib installer I intend to create). You can download the installer here (perhaps we can move this to sourceforge if you like what you see): http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt-0.85-rc2-setup.exe looks pretty cool. NAnt certainly needs a win32 installer. I think there is a build file in NAntContrib to create a nant msi but I'm not sure if its been decided to ship that - certainly its been there for ages and we haven't shipped an msi installer yet. So I guess now is as good a time to decide. Do we want to : a) go with the msi based installer ( has the virtue of exercising the msi tasks ) b) use Swoogan's innosetup installer ( seems simpler than full blown msi ) c) somthing else ? btw is InnoSetup free/opensource - I don't have internet acesss right now to check. oh and how easy would it be to add an installer dialog page that finds the list of available frameworks ( from the registry ) and allows the user to select the one they would like to use as the default ? Ian Yes, I forgot to add that, InnoSetup is open source. I believe it has its own license. I've never added additional dialogs, but there is a tool to assist creating them, so I don't imagine it would be hard. Reading the registry is trivial, so I doubt there would be much to adding that. The script I used to create the installer can be found here http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt_installer.zip You will need Inno Setup to compile the script (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isdl.php). I simply unzip the zipped binary distribution from SF and drop the script in the root. Running it from there creates an 'installer' dir where the compiled installer is placed. I've also included a simple nant task for creating the installer from a nant build file in the zip file. The tag is simply: (really just a substitution for using ). This task requires that Inno Setup 5 be installed. Swoogan --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers
Re: [nant-dev] Windows installer for binary distribution.
Hi Swoogan, I wrote an installer script for Inno Setup (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php) for NAnt distribution around my office and I would like to contribute it. Besides copying the files, it adds the nant bin directory the environment path and creates a registry entry pointing to the installation path for third party apps to reference (such as the NAnt-contrib installer I intend to create). You can download the installer here (perhaps we can move this to sourceforge if you like what you see): http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt-0.85-rc2-setup.exe looks pretty cool. NAnt certainly needs a win32 installer. I think there is a build file in NAntContrib to create a nant msi but I'm not sure if its been decided to ship that - certainly its been there for ages and we haven't shipped an msi installer yet. So I guess now is as good a time to decide. Do we want to : a) go with the msi based installer ( has the virtue of exercising the msi tasks ) b) use Swoogan's innosetup installer ( seems simpler than full blown msi ) c) somthing else ? btw is InnoSetup free/opensource - I don't have internet acesss right now to check. oh and how easy would it be to add an installer dialog page that finds the list of available frameworks ( from the registry ) and allows the user to select the one they would like to use as the default ? Ian The script I used to create the installer can be found here http://swoogan.com/downloads/nant/NAnt_installer.zip You will need Inno Setup to compile the script (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isdl.php). I simply unzip the zipped binary distribution from SF and drop the script in the root. Running it from there creates an 'installer' dir where the compiled installer is placed. I've also included a simple nant task for creating the installer from a nant build file in the zip file. The tag is simply: (really just a substitution for using ). This task requires that Inno Setup 5 be installed. Swoogan --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click ___ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers
