Other Software > Developer's Corner
WiX Installer - not really a review
wraith808:
Well, all .msi installers I've used take a lot of time to "boot", and generally seem slow and sluggish - even if only dealing with a few megabytes worth of files. Nullsoft based installers, on the other hand, are crazy fast.
I do realize that .msi offers a lot of rollback and whatnot, but... meh.
-f0dder (September 23, 2012, 02:13 PM)
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Mine comes up pretty much instantly, and doesn't take that much longer than it would take to decompress the files and copy them to their locations.
f0dder:
Mine comes up pretty much instantly, and doesn't take that much longer than it would take to decompress the files and copy them to their locations.
-wraith808 (September 23, 2012, 02:16 PM)
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I generally have 3+ seconds before the installer launches (even for the simple stuff), and installation taking a while (if a lot of small files (or registry entries) are involved). Contrast a .msi game installer with a bunch of small files to a nullsoft based installer with ".pak" files and... well :)
Tuxman:
"Wix" resp. "wichs". A German slang word for "jack off".
The one thing I like on WiX is its integration into the system. However, as my current major project uses NSIS, is there a GUI for it? Using a text editor to keep two installers up-to-date (update installer and full installer) is quite disturbing sometimes.
wraith808:
I generally have 3+ seconds before the installer launches (even for the simple stuff),
-f0dder (September 23, 2012, 02:26 PM)
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Oh... that preparing to install dialog. Yup. Still there. I started to use NSIS. That's the last thing I used when I was doing installers, and I really liked them. But the lack of activity on the boards is what made me start looking for something else.
And I'm not sure if there's a GUI... I don't think so. And I can see your point on having to maintain multiple installers with a text editor. My needs are small, so having the source and the builder in the same place as my other source and builds outweighs those considerations. If I was doing a large project, then I'm not so sure that I would use WiX.
f0dder:
Oh... that preparing to install dialog. Yup. Still there.-wraith808 (September 23, 2012, 02:35 PM)
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I know I'm �ber-sensitive to these kinds, but it annoys me a lot. One things is the up-front delay, though, another is the speed of installing itself. I assume that .msi based install of "a few large files" would be a lot better that when dealing with a zillion small files... but I guess authors going for .msi are more likely to go with those zillions of small files.
It's also very evident when doing uninstalls. Those zillions-of-files uninstalls can take a couple of minutes, where the .pak based ones take a couple of seconds. I almost get suspicious with fast installers these days, because I'm so used to the .msi madness :(
I started to use NSIS. That's the last thing I used when I was doing installers, and I really liked them. But the lack of activity on the boards is what made me start looking for something else.-wraith808 (September 23, 2012, 02:35 PM)
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I know the feeling. Inactivity? Bad! - but is it, really, that bad? It is for proprietary systems, but iirc NSIS is opensource?
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