bocos
27th November 2009 02:00 UTC

NSIS vs INNO setup
  Hi,

I am working on researching install program.

The candidates are NSIS and inno setup.

I have searched some imformation about them,

but it's hard to conclude what's better.

plz help me~

Here is some features about them.

If some important features are missed or wrong, plz tell me.

I will correct them.
------------------------------------------------nsis--------------------------------------inno setup
<windows support>----95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Server 2003 Vista----7, 2008 R2, Vista, XP, 2008, 2003, 2000, Me, 98, 95, and NT 4.0
<overhead size>------------------------------34 KB--------------------------------------?
<compression>--------------------------ZLib, BZip2, LZMA--------------------bzip2, 7-Zip LZMA
<scriptable>----------------------------own script-------------------------------------?
<uninstall support>----------------------------yes---------------------------------------yes
<shortcut creation>----------------------------yes---------------------------------------yes
<registry>---------------reading/setting/enumerating//deleting---------------------creation
<INI>--------------------------------------reading/writing------------------------------creation
<multilingual>-----------------------------yes, RTL------------------------------yes, RTL
<unicode>---------------------------------possible---------------------------------------------support

thantks.

Joel
27th November 2009 03:25 UTC

you missed a key feature:

<Must have a script editor> NSIS: No; INNO: YES!

You are like a zombie without an editor with inno...take my comment as a former INNO user.

MSG
27th November 2009 09:02 UTC

...How don't you need a script editor for NSIS? Please don't tell me you're suggesting he use zip2exe? o__O

thek
27th November 2009 11:19 UTC

I had the same decesion to make about 2 years ago.

At this I chosse NSIS because its better customizable through scripts, addons, plugins,...

INNO works great if you only have the "classical" install stuff to do because its eayser to understand and use. But if you have to do some complex stuff during installation NSIS is the better solution

IMHO

MSG
27th November 2009 12:56 UTC

I agree with thek. Inno is advantageous for people who are already used to Pascal/Delphi, and its default unicode support was a big plus for a while. But in the end, NSIS *will* allow you to do much more. NSIS takes some getting used to, and as such is more difficult to use for newbies, but for real, proper installers it can beat Inno any day.

Also, the NSIS forum is better populated. :P

Yathosho
27th November 2009 17:51 UTC

apart from the crappy formatting, that table is incomplete, confusing and at times wrong.

while i agree with thek, i find this discussion a bit out of place (like talking about os x on a windows forum).

Joel
27th November 2009 21:06 UTC

Originally posted by MSG
...How don't you need a script editor for NSIS? Please don't tell me you're suggesting he use zip2exe? o__O

MSG
27th November 2009 22:19 UTC

Originally posted by Joel
No sir, you can use as light as notepad, even notepad++.
INNO users mostly need some "point me to click" editors.

redxii
28th November 2009 10:06 UTC

Yeah, Inno scripts are plain text. It's like "thisoption=thatvalue". Doesn't sound very flexible or powerful. I used a 3rd-party tool to generate/edit Inno scripts. I know nothing of Pascal or Delphi.

Unless you're a big time Pascal/Delphi programmer, you should use NSIS. I dove into NSIS without knowing anything, and not long after, my first NSIS script got used in an OSS project. There are many examples on the NSIS website and included with NSIS and plug-ins available along with excellent documentation.

Also, NSIS has a unicode port available from www.scratchpaper.com.

Red Wine
29th November 2009 12:59 UTC

Definitely I do agree with Yathosho's comments above.
But let me place it differentially.
It is like comparing a Ferrari with a Fiat. Both are coming from the same manufacturer however it is a fool's quest when trying to compare them.

Joel
29th November 2009 14:18 UTC

Originally posted by Red Wine
Definitely I do agree with Yathosho's comments above.
But let me place it differentially.
It is like comparing a Ferrari with a Fiat. Both are coming from the same manufacturer however it is a fool's quest when trying to compare them.

***93;

>ifexebloated=usensis 

>