Re: GSoC project about binary packaging

[PhilipNienhuis]

Patrick Noffke wrote
> On Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 3:11 PM, Michael Goffioul
> <

> michael.goffioul@

> > wrote:
>> 1) MinGW build with installer
>>
> 
> Sorry to come into this discussion late.  Am I correct that the
> Windows installer file can only be created on a Windows machine (i.e.
> you have to run NSIS on Windows)?  I see nsis is cross-compiled, but
> I'm not sure what good that does if you want to make a full installer
> from Linux.

It is possible to build NSIS + the NSIS-based Octave binary installer (which
has already been implemented, in rudimentary shape) on Linux and on Windows. 
For the MinGW build chain there's still a little glitch (building qt still
fails with the ./mk-dist command used to build all of octave &
dependencies). Once past that step I think the Octave binary installer can
be built straightforwardly (didn't try yet).

But...

On Windows, it is not possible to build using multiple make jobs. Yesterday
I tried again, it seemed to work but in the end it turned out I almost
ruined my Windows partition (long disk checks after reboot). I also noted
severe memory leaks with the latest mxe build (have to hunt down what &
why).
Some MinGW build tools just aren't thread-safe. Not to mention that MinGW
still has a few other rough edges.
Cross-compiling with multiple make jobs works OK, and cross-compiling even
with just one make job is much faster than a native MinGW build.

So the good thing for cross-compiling is that it is a lot faster (>12-14 hrs
natively vs. a little over 2 hours cross, on the same core-i5 machine, for
Octave + all dependencies).


> Anyway, I just wanted to throw this out there.  It is possible to
> build a Windows Installer (.msi) file from Linux.  I've done this
> using the msi-tools[1] package on Fedora 18.  If you want, you can
> also use WiX natively on Windows.  Both are similar, though the Linux
> version implements a subset of the WiX features.  Either way involves
> writing a .wxs file[2] to describe your installer, then run wixl (or
> equivalent (candle.exe and light.exe) on Windows) to build the .msi
> file.
> 
> You can create fancy UI screens for user-selectable options if you
> want.  I've done this before (on Windows -- I'd have to test again
> with msi-tools), and could help if this is useful.  I'd have to dig up
> some of my past .wxs files, but you can also check out the WiX
> tutorial here:  http://wix.tramontana.co.hu/tutorial.

AFAIK most if not all of those options also exist in regular .exe
installers, incl. NSIS.
Could you tell us what advantages and disadvantages .msi files have compared
to an .exe installer?

Philip




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