Windows DMD installer

[Lutger]

Vladimir Panteleev wrote:

> As recently posted by WB, we should get a Windows installer project going.
> I think we should first discuss what this installer would contain, which
> installer framework to use, etc.
> 
> In my opinion, the Windows installer's goal is somewhat different than a
> Linux installer. I've heard many people say that they'd love a simple
> installer that installs them everything including a build tool, IDE,
> debugger, etc., so perhaps it should allow installing more than just the
> barebones DMD. However, we don't want to include things that many people
> won't use either. Therefore, I was thinking that the installer could
> download and install components (libraries, text editors/IDEs or plugins
> for them, build tools) from the web if the user ticks some corresponding
> checkboxes.
> 
> Further ideas:
> * support Windows' "change" option in Add/Remove Programs to allow
> removing, reinstalling and updating components
> * when installing an editor, associate .d files with it
> * adjust PATH to include DMD and any selected build tools
> * adjust DMD search paths to point to any additional libraries (Tango,
> DSSS etc.)
> * DSSS "net install" integration? (show a checkbox list of libraries)
...

Wouldn't it be sweet to go further and use dsss as that part of the 
installer which handles the libraries or more? There's probably a good bit 
of useful code in there, or even better dsss could be updated as required by 
the installer project. That will leverage dsss user base and revive dsss at 
once. Plus the way dsss works, it makes it easy to extend the list of 
components in the future.