Nullsoft Scriptable Install System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:45, 28 March 2005

Revision as of 11:58, 28 March 2005

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{{Infobox_Software |

name = Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) |

screenshot = [[Image:Nsis.png|250px]] |

caption = NSIS 2.06 |

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operating_system = [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[POSIX]] |

genre = [[Software development tools]] |

license = [[open source]] ([[zlib-libpng license|zlib/libpng license]]) |

website = [http://nsis.sourceforge.net/ nsis.sf.net] |

}}

'''Nullsoft Scriptable Install System''' (NSIS)''', is an [[open source|open-source]] ([[zlib-libpng license|zlib/libpng license]]), script-driven installation system with minimal overhead being backed by [[Nullsoft]], creators of [[Winamp]]. NSIS 1 is in many ways similar to the classic [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] installer, but it is more easily scriptable and supports more compression formats. NSIS 2 has a new streamlined [[GUI]], supports [[LZMA]] compression, multiple languages and an easy plug-in system. The NSIS script compiler compiles on [[POSIX]] platforms.

'''Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS)''', is an [[open source|open-source]] ([[zlib-libpng license|zlib/libpng license]]), script-driven installation system with minimal overhead being backed by [[Nullsoft]], creators of [[Winamp]]. NSIS 1 is in many ways similar to the classic [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] installer, but it is more easily scriptable and supports more compression formats. NSIS 2 has a new streamlined [[GUI]], supports [[LZMA]] compression, multiple languages and an easy plug-in system. The NSIS script compiler compiles on [[POSIX]] platforms.

==History==

NSIS was created because of the need to distribute [[Winamp]]. It is based on PiMP (Plug-In Mini Packager), also a [[Nullsoft]] creation, and is also known as SuperPiMP. After version 2.0a0, the project was moved to [[SourceForge]] where developers outside of [[Nullsoft]] started working on it on a regular basis. After almost two years of alphas, betas and release candidates, NSIS 2.0 was released.

===POSIX===

2.01 was the first version to compile on [[POSIX]] platforms out of the box. This allows [[Cross-compilation|cross-compilation]] of [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] installers on [[Linux]] and [[FreeBSD]] without the usage of [[WINE]]. Currently, the only supported hardware platform is [[x86]].

==Concepts==

===Script===

The NSIS compiler, makensis, compiles scripts into installers. Each line contains one command.

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2.0 introduced a new optional streamlined [[GUI]] called Modern UI (MUI). The MUI has a wizard-like interface. It supports a welcome, finish page, language selection dialog, description area for components and greater customization options than the old GUI.

===Plug-insPlugins===

NSIS can be extended with plug-ins[[plugin]]s that can communicate with the installer. They can be written in [[C programming language|C]], [[C programming language|C++]] and [[Delphi programming language|Delphi]] and can be used to perform installation tasks or extend the installer interface. You can use the plug-in with a single line of script code.

NSIS can be extended with plug-ins that can communicate with the installer. They can be written in [[C programming language|C]], [[C programming language|C++]] and [[Delphi programming language|Delphi]] and can be used to perform installation tasks or extend the installer interface. You can use the plug-in with a single line of script code.

Several plug-ins come with the NSIS package allowing to display a splash screen, display a custom page, display an image on the background, download files from a website, perform mathematical operations, patching files and more.

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==Features==

*Very small overhead

*[[zlib]], [[bzip2]] and [[LZMA|lzma]] compression