Windows installer technology how-to

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I am trying to create a custom installer technology for some fun and generic utility...I have experimented with several tools including Orca, WiX, VS S&D projects, NSIS, Innosetup etc but all of them seem to suffer from one or more of the following deficiencies...

1. Its too complex for simple needs or outright simplistic. There is no technology which covers middle ground.
2. Does not support transacted setups.
3. Forces you to learn a complex new programming language.

In the end I have decided to create my own installer technology to fulfill my needs...

1. Declarative like WiX but no XML junk, will probably use boo instead.
2. Transacted like MSI (in fact I am thinking of using MSI as the underlying technology)
3. Outright simple and to the point but not too simple.

I would be grateful if you could answer some of the following questions keeping the above in mind.

Q1. Has this already been done? Can you point to some instances of such technology?
Q2. How do I detect program dependencies and find corresponding merge-modules like Visual studio does while creating setup and deployment projects?
Q3. How do I programmatically create an MSI package from .net (without using something like WiX)?

manpreet 2 years ago