Re: [Hamlib-developer] Windows installer script / code

[Martin C. <mfn...@gm...>]

On Wed, Nov 5, 2025 at 8:11 AM Nate Bargmann <n0...@n0...> wrote:

> * On 2025 04 Nov 10:33 -0600, Martin Cooper wrote:
> > Apologies in advance if I'm missing something obvious.
> >
> > When looking at how Hamlib is built for Windows, the scripts (e.g.
> > build-w64.sh) and associated docs take me through the process to the
> point
> > of creating a zip file. However, the release artifacts on GitHub also
> > include a .exe installer. I've been unable to find the script / code that
> > creates that installer, and / or documentation for how it's created. I'm
> > interested in looking at this because I want to see *exactly* what it's
> > doing, if anything, that's different from just unzipping a zip file (e.g.
> > different locations, setting up paths, etc.).
> >
> > Where can I find the source for this?
>
> Nowhere public at the moment.
>
> That is simply because I didn't appreciate that they would be useful.
> The build* scripts you see are actually called by another script that is
> in turn called by cron in the VM.  They do things like archive the
> source snapshot on the host machine and handle the uploads to
> SourceForge.net.  I also have variations for releases.  The nsis
> configuration file is separate from them (I kept the nsis stuff out of
> the build* scripts to lessen the dependency count by one, I could be
> convinced to place it in those scripts contingent on whether nsis is
> found).
>

Hi Nate,

I can understand reducing dependencies, for sure.

At issue for me, as I mentioned, is knowing exactly what the installer
does. A Windows user has a choice - download the installer exe and run it,
or download the zip file and unzip it. What's the difference? Why would the
user choose one over the other? Are there additional things that the
installer does (e.g. modifying the Windows registry or making other system
changes) that the user doesn't get if they simply unzip the zip file? What
exactly is the installer doing to my system?

Also, if I'm building an application that might call upon Hamlib for some
functionality, how do I decide whether I should tell my users to install
Hamlib using the installer exe or simply download and unzip the zip file?
What would I miss if I told them to just unzip the zip file?

Without either documentation or source code for the installer, neither an
end user nor an application developer has a way to know which path to
follow and why. Admittedly, making the source code available isn't going to
help most end users, so perhaps the preferable path would be to fully
document the two alternatives and the reasons that someone would choose one
over the other. Me, I'm used to reading source code to find undocumented
information, which is why I went looking for it. :-)

Thanks,

Martin.
KD6YAM


> 73, Nate
>
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