Packaging Software

There is the one that Winamp and numerous other software uses called NSIS.

Inno Setup is really good and easy to use.

You could also look at the Clickteam Install Creator. There's a free version that includes an ad in the installer package, but you can also pay to have that removed. They also have a Patch Maker.

I'd second NSIS as long as you're looking for a Windows installer.

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Original post by Kazgoroth I'd second NSIS as long as you're looking for a Windows installer.

Whoa good catch - I totally forgot to mention that I'd like it to be cross-platform if possible. Or if not then if any of you know of a good one for Mac/Linux.

I'm just wondering - how would an installer be cross-platform? Wouldn't most Operating Systems have special, and unique, "red tape" procedures you'd have to go through to get stuff on there in the correct place, in the correct fashion? I'm thinking even if you wrote it in Java, whilst your code might cross-platform, you could only support the OSes you'd written support for.

Did you know that fashion and cushion are the only two words in the English language that end in "shion"?

For a Windows installer, I would absolutely, positively, not recommend NSIS. In a corporate environment, we need to be able to deploy applications to hundreds of computers simultaneously through unattended "pushdowns". For this, we rely on the setup program being able to, amoung other things, be installed silently with no user interaction. NSIS installers are hands down the worst installation packages in existence when it comes to this. Have a look at the command line options NSIS offers. As you'll see, there's pretty much nothing. Also, I think you'll find it's up to the creator of the installation package to ensure that a silent installation can actually be run, so most of the time, the basic silent mode doesn't work anyway. I usually have to repackage NSIS installers for deployment.

I strongly suggest you look at Inno Setup instead. Look at some of the command line arguments Inno Setup supports, including the creation of an answer file to customize the installation, and detailed return codes to indicate various failures. Inno Setup is one of the easiest installation packages to script. Not as good as InstallShield or a basic MSI, but pretty damn good. NSIS is the absolute worst.

Don't forget MSI.

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Original post by Gaiiden Quote: Original post by Kazgoroth I'd second NSIS as long as you're looking for a Windows installer. Whoa good catch - I totally forgot to mention that I'd like it to be cross-platform if possible. Or if not then if any of you know of a good one for Mac/Linux.

At the moment there is really no great way to create a cross platform installer. There are a few applications out there in Java that package the installer as an executable JAR file. Its either that or look into different ways of packaging for different platforms, usually MSI/RPM/DEB.

I'm working on a cross platform installer package at the moment, but I'm afraid its still a bit of anything workable. But its nice to see I'm not the only one interested in the idea [grin]

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Original post by Gaiiden [...]Looking for some good freeware packaging software for my game.[...]

(emphasis mine)

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Original post by Nemesis2k2 [...]In a corporate environment, we need to be able to deploy applications to hundreds of computers simultaneously through unattended "pushdowns".[...]

Are you honestly going to be installing a game in such a corporate environment?

I'm really liking the one that Yann recomended. (Advanced Installer) They have a free version that just supports Windows but they also have a java cross platform installer for a reasonable fee. It also supports great features like online installs and automatic updates.

NSIS is teh r0x0rz.
We are using it for 2 years now, it's the best windows packager. And it's lzha compression is vastly supperior than any other compression algorithm that I've seen.

If you can afford a license for Install Anywhere, it's pretty awesome.

Cool people use a self-extracting RAR file, hehe.

I'd vote for either NSIS or MSI, as one of my games is getting closer to completion.

Just supply a .tar.gz (and/or a .zip for Windows) that extracts into a fully functional program directory and have the program store its settings in the user's home directory. "Installer wizards" are pointless if not irritating, IMHO, as they tend to hide things all over the system.

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Original post by 255 Just supply a .tar.gz (and/or a .zip for Windows) that extracts into a fully functional program directory and have the program store its settings in the user's home directory. "Installer wizards" are pointless if not irritating, IMHO, as they tend to hide things all over the system.

While X-Copy installations might work better with your typical Linux user, thats not really the case with your typical Windows user. I don't think I would be too far wrong that if all applications are distributed using nothing more than a zip file, the most place they would end up installed to is either the Desktop or Local Settings/Temporary Application Data. Install Wizards might be frustrating to use if you know what you are doing, but they do have their place.

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Original post by aidan_walsh Quote: Original post by 255 Just supply a .tar.gz (and/or a .zip for Windows) that extracts into a fully functional program directory and have the program store its settings in the user's home directory. "Installer wizards" are pointless if not irritating, IMHO, as they tend to hide things all over the system. While X-Copy installations might work better with your typical Linux user, thats not really the case with your typical Windows user. I don't think I would be too far wrong that if all applications are distributed using nothing more than a zip file, the most place they would end up installed to is either the Desktop or Local Settings/Temporary Application Data. Install Wizards might be frustrating to use if you know what you are doing, but they do have their place.

So have the installer just unzip the zip file to Program Files or a user-chosen location, and have the option to just grab the zip file. I don't think it would be too much work to have a program that asks for a directory and whether or not to create desktop, quick launch, and start menu shortcuts, then unzip a zip file and create a few shortcuts.

On Linux, the precompiled .tar.gz should work on 'normal' systems, and you could offer a source .tar.gz if you want to.

On Mac OSX, it seems like the best way is to distribute a .dmg file.

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Original post by matt_j Cool people use a self-extracting RAR file, hehe.[...]

Thats all I've ever used; self-extracting RAR files are awesome!

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Original post by Thevenin Quote: Original post by matt_j Cool people use a self-extracting RAR file, hehe.[...] Thats all I've ever used; self-extracting RAR files are awesome!

And whats great is you can create your own installer app/script/batch that creates the icons for you, and make that autorun straight after extraction. I found this a great way of making quick'n'dirty installers. Also was great for deploying packages silently throughout a domain (with hidden extraction option). Though this is not Loonix based, I'm sure the concept could be adopted (zipped with simple installer script to copy data/package to the correct/desired locations)

I was getting ready to post a thread with the same question.
Thanks, Gaiiden.