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

[Nate B. <n0...@n0...>]

* On 2025 05 Nov 12:05 -0600, Martin Cooper wrote:
> 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?

I've attached both nsis config files.

No registry modification is done as none is needed for Hamlib.  As I see
it, the advantage is with the installer as different components can be
installed or omitted with DLLs being a required component.

> 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?

Nothing will be missed, however with the installer I suspect you could
have your users uncheck all of the optional components and set the path.

> 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. :-)

Just an oversight.  Those files will be added to the repository.

Thanks!

73, Nate

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