Uploading it to OS4Depot.net might be useful as well...

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It's a 68k / OS 3 application so it doesn't really qualify as OS4-specific. Probably best not to for that reason. Thanks for the suggestion though!

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RobTheNerd.com | InstallerGen | SMBMounter | Atoms-X

Works great on OS4.

I have to say you have the best install process. Not sure if the issue with "_" is an OS4 thing or otherwise but it took me 5 minutes to learn your tool by using it to fix it's own installer!

I've been waiting for something like this. Thank you for doing the work.

Cheers,
Bill

Congratulations for this wonderful tool!

Please compile it for the "soon to appear" AROS 2.0 (beta available to devs), it will attract many developers and make InstallerGen the "defacto" tool for instalation packages

Thanks guys

@tekmage
Ummm... The "_" issue? There wasn't any issue in my testing, but it does remind me of a bug in old versions of LhA that sometimes subbed underscores in where there are spaces in filenames. None of the filenames in the archive have underscores but the "Install InstallerGen" and "InstallerGen Project" both have spaces. Check if you have the latest version of LhA installed and see if that makes a difference. But good work investigating and fixing it!

Edit: It looks like an XADMaster bug rather than an LhA bug. A fixed LhA module for XADMaster (which is used by UnArc) is here: http://aminet.net/package/util/arc/xad_lha.lha


@vision
It's written in AmiBlitz, so I can't compile it for any other platforms than 68k I'm afraid. That would require a complete rewrite in C, and I'm not as competent with using C on the Amiga... Might be a project for the future though! I'd be interested to see if it was usable under JanusUAE...

Last edited by Daedalus on 03-Sep-2014 at 07:55 PM.

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RobTheNerd.com | InstallerGen | SMBMounter | Atoms-X

>So many little applications are released without installer scripts...because the application is a simple "unpack-in-place" affair

And that is as it should be. Many apps have no need for an installer script, and it is pointless to provide one in such cases.

I've come across many small, self-contained apps that store their settings in tooltypes. These apps will lose those settings if you simply unpack an updated version in-place, and could be made a much better experience by including an installer script that takes care of keeping settings in cases like these. Yes, there are cases where that isn't true and a script isn't needed, and that's fine. But I don't see the harm in including a script anyway for users who prefer to do it that way - they don't have to use the script if they don't want to...

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RobTheNerd.com | InstallerGen | SMBMounter | Atoms-X

If a program needs or would benefit by an installer (eg. programs with settings in tooltypes), by all means it should have an installer script, and your program may well be useful for that. I just disagree with the rationale that every program should have one just for the sake of it, whether it is needed or not.

For a program without an installer, it's installed like this:

1. Unpack archive to permanent directory.

Whereas for a program with an installer, it's a 4-step process:

1. Unpack archive to temporary directory.
2. Run installer script.
3. Answer various other questions, eg. novice/intermediate/expert mode, which directory to install in, etc.
4. Delete temporary directory.

>they don't have to use the script if they don't want to...

Well, they do need to have a look at the script to see what it does (because installer scripts generally do something special), and then delete the script to get rid of it.

Ironically InstallerGen is a good example of a program that doesn't need an installer, yet has one anyway. It also copies the installer script into the permanent directory, which is generally considered a bug. Also some commands (eg. showmedia) don't seem to be supported.

But I don't want to discourage you from working on this program, it is original and probably quite useful for many people.

Last edited by Minuous on 04-Sep-2014 at 10:45 AM.
Last edited by Minuous on 04-Sep-2014 at 10:44 AM.
Last edited by Minuous on 04-Sep-2014 at 10:19 AM.

There are many commands which are not supported, but they can be added in future. Bearin mind as well that some commands are not supported in all versions of the Installer utility so care must be taken when implementing them.
Copying the installer script is not a bug - it's included as an example to help users get to grips with it, and you can see that the installer script is explicitly selected for copying. I agree that it probably doesn't need it, but for the purpose of demonstration it's quite useful.
As for opening installers, I'd tend the other way: If there isn't an installer, I always look for instructions in the documentation for manually installing it, because I could never tell if anything extra needs to be done. If it's a simple unpack operation, opening the readme is an extra step to carry out. And, if it's a simple installation, surely that can be stated in the readme, in which case you'll know already before you end up going to all that trouble of running installers and deleting temporary drawers.
At the end if the day, one of the benefits of using an Amiga-type OS is that it gives users a lot of control over how they do things. IThink this fits quite nicely with that: you're free to install whatever you like in whatever way you like, and people including installer scripts won't change that one bit. Everyone does things differently, many people unpack to a temporary directory regardless of what they're installing for example so that they know what's involved first, and I personally think that blindly installing an archive directly over an older version is a little reckless, but that's just my opinion.

Edit: Just to clarify here, I don't believe every single little thing should have an installer script, and I apologise if that's the impression you got. I just feel that there are a large number that would benefit from having one, and that's something that's annoyed me in the past for many reasons, including those I gave above, and hoped that this would improve that situation in future.

Last edited by Daedalus on 04-Sep-2014 at 01:11 PM.

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RobTheNerd.com | InstallerGen | SMBMounter | Atoms-X

Well done!

thanx a lot for your work

I will include it in next version of Aros Vision

The more automated the process of installing can be done, the better.

In terms of Amiga Im quite illiterate and I find the installing of programs quite annoying.
More often than not the programs require xyz lib or you got the wrong version.
Would be good if developers or compilers of program pack would include everything needed in addition to the script itself.