How about a bounty for a new windows installer using inno setup ?

[Brad Anderson via Digitalmars-d]

On Monday, 5 December 2016 at 19:33:33 UTC, Jim Hewes wrote:
> On 12/5/2016 3:19 AM, Kjartan F. Kvamme wrote:
>> On Monday, 5 December 2016 at 09:24:59 UTC, Basile B. wrote:
>>> How about a bounty for a new windows installer using inno 
>>> setup ?
>>>
>>> There are several issues related to the nsis-based windows 
>>> installer
>>> (even on bugzilla). The problem that happened last Fall with 
>>> a virus
>>> false detection may happen again. "Braddr" proposed to handle 
>>> digital
>>> signatures in case it would involve payment.
>>>
>>> Programming an installer is a small job but it has a long 
>>> term impact
>>> on the user experience. Worth 100€ imo.
>>
>> Any particular reason to use Inno Setup over for example Wix 
>> Toolset?
>
> <Delurk>
> In my last job I worked on installers (which I didn't like but 
> someone had to do it.) I recommend WiX over Inno. The main 
> reason is that WiX produces an MSI and Inno doesn't. An MSI is 
> just a data file, not an executable, and is thus better for 
> security. I normally wrapped the MSI in a bootstrap exe. But we 
> had one customer that was part of the government and wouldn't 
> accept anything but an MSI.
> If you want, you can generate the XML with a program. I just 
> didn't because I figured it was easier to modify if you can 
> directly see the XML. My install builder was actually a 
> combination of C# and WiX. I never found scripts to be flexible 
> enough and it's just one more language to know.
>
> Jim
> </Delurk>

Yes, if DMD is going to switch the installer to something else it 
should be MSI. It's the official way to create installers on 
Windows and IT departments prefer it. Just switching to another 
installer executable generator is a lateral step, rather than a 
step forward.

Microsoft seems to be wanting to quietly deprecate MSIs too and 
are increasingly not using them for their own products (likely to 
push people to the Windows Store). I'm not sure if the Windows 
Store is suitable for DMD though and adapting DMD to it would 
probably involve quite a bit of work and would likely involves 
legal agreements with Microsoft that only the D Foundation could 
make.