Windows DMD installer

[Vladimir Panteleev]

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)

Going further with this idea, we could remove DMD itself from the  
installer and allow the user to install DMD1/DMD2 as a component, thus  
creating a "meta-installer" to manage the D toolchain.

As for the installer system: I'm familiar with NSIS and InnoSetup, both  
are open-source. NSIS is extensible and can thus download files from the  
Internet, but AFAIK InnoSetup can't (even though it has a more flexible  
scripting language). Windows Installer is also used by some open-source  
software like TortoiseSVN.

-- 
Best regards,
  Vladimir                          mailto:thecybershadow at gmail.com