
While I rarely do Windows development, I recently had the opportunity to experiment with different Windows installation products such as InstallShield Professional and Paquet Builder, when I stumbled upon the Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) and never looked back.
Unlike other systems that can only generate installers based on a list of files and registry keys, NSIS has a powerful, domain-specific scripting language. And with the use of the HM NIS Edit tool, one can utilize a user-friendly wizard interface to generate scripts within minutes.
To illustrate, let’s look at a simple script that copies a file into the installation directory that the user specifies in a dialog box:
Name "Example Installer"
OutFile "example.exe"
InstallDir $PROGRAMFILES\Example
Page directory
Page instfiles
Section ""
SetOutPath $INSTDIR
File example.exe
SectionEnd
The text script is compiled by NSIS into a fully working Windows executable. Simply right-click on the NSI script and select the compile option. Best of all, it’s released under an open source license and is completely free for any use, including commercial applications.
It’s been awhile, but I used to use NSIS to pack up my little projects. That was before the 2.x series, when someone other than Justin Frankel took over the project and put it up on SourceForge. It looks even better now.
I agree. The user interface is much more polished now and looks like a professional installer.