Nullsoft Scriptable Install System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:05, 24 October 2005

Revision as of 19:57, 24 October 2005

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

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'''Nullsoft Scriptable Install System''' (NSIS), is an [[open source]], 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 plugin 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 (plugin 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 approximately two years later.

===POSIX===

Version 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==

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[[Image:Nsis1.png|right|thumb|150px|NSIS 1.98]]

Version 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.

===Plugins===

NSIS can be extended with [[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. The plugins can be usedactivated with a single line of script code.

Several plugins 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.