noleander
15th March 2005 17:30 UTC

Happy with NSIS
I'm a long time C++ programmer, but I've never dealt with installers before. I was given a job a week ago to build an installer since Vise (another person did the Vise work) could not meet our requirements (Vise could not handle files > 2 GB).

I've spent about 8 hours learning NSIS and building my script. NSIS met all my needs and (using MUI) generated a very professional looking installer. It even handles copying files > 2 GB (outside the installer binary).

The NSIS support forum people were very helpful, quickly and accurately answering my questions (which, on hindsight, were rather silly).

The NSIS on-line documentation is phenomenal (although it could use a "beginners start here" dummy tutorial).

Someone else mentioned another free installer, InnoSetup. I looked at it, but it looks like a "one man show" and doesnt have the same level of documentation or support.

NSIS is doing the job for me!

Afrow UK
15th March 2005 20:02 UTC

Glad to know you are finding NSIS great :)

I agree about the docs for beginners too. I think it's especially hard for those with no programming experience at all. Although NSIS isn't a real programming language like C++ (damn near though!) it's 10x easier for those beginners that already have programming experience.

I'm suprised we don't have a NSIS tutorial or two for building an installer already. Some say the Examples are good enough, but it's probably only good for those that already know everything (ie. the developers!)

Perhaps I shall do a tutorial next (just maybe!)

-Stu

noleander
15th March 2005 22:20 UTC

As a person who just learned NSIS (at least the rudiments of it) I'm in a good position to write a brief intro/overview to get newcomers started. I'm thinking 3 to 6 "pages" of text, mostly explaining the terminology (sections, MUI, pages, etc) and what is required and what is optional.

Who would I send such a tutorial to, i.e. who is in charge of the NSIS Users Manual?

kichik
15th March 2005 22:22 UTC

Submit it as a patch in the patches tracker.

Jnuw
15th March 2005 22:43 UTC

noleander, I could not agree with you more. I'm still relatively new to NSIS, been building NSIS installers for a few months now and love it. But the first couple of days were rough, just understanding the terminology was pretty hard. Thank goodness for the forum though, everyone on there has been very helpful, so thanks all!

mgillespie
15th March 2005 23:20 UTC

It's safe to say since moving to NSIS (from InstallShield Pro 6), developers at the company I work for, now develop software rather than spending days fighting with Installshield.

Thanks NSIS guys...

noleander
16th March 2005 02:51 UTC

I wrote a brief introduction to NSIS (only about 2 or 3 pages) in FAQ format.

I submitted it to NSIS overlords in thru the SourceForge patch sytem. It is avaiable online at

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index...49&atid=373087

If anyone would like to read it and reply with constructive criticisms, I can improve it and maybe it will get into the offical NSIS documentation and help other newcomers in the future.

Afrow UK
16th March 2005 15:59 UTC

Very nice work :)

Found typo "dowload" on line 33.
Also, forum URL can be changed to forums.winamp.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=65 (easier to remember or whatnot.)
"Modern User Interface" could go under the MUI heading.

Edit: Everyone; you need to right-click and save as on the link. Save as .txt rather than .htm so that you can read it properly.

-Stu