/D NSIS Flag does not support paths containing white spaces (e.g. C:/Program Files/)

[gdotv]

• Electron-Builder Version: 24.9.1

• Node Version: 18 (LTS)

• Electron Version: 25.6.0
• Electron Type (current, beta, nightly): current

  N/A

• Target: Windows (NSIS)

The /D flag for the NSIS installer in command line mode is not properly parsing/handling file paths containing spaces. The issue appears to be occurring in the parsing stage of the /D flag in multiUser.nsh (https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/blob/master/packages/app-builder-lib/templates/nsis/multiUser.nsh#L45). A very simple test to reproduce the issue (on a Windows device) is to attempt running the NSIS installer in "quiet" mode with an override path containing a white space, for instance in my case: ./gdotv.exe /S /D=C:\Program Files\gdotv

The expected output of this command is for gdotv.exe to be installed under C:\Program Files\gdotv, however it ends up being installed under C:\Program I've also tried different permutations with and without quotes but to no avail, e.g.: ./gdotv.exe /S /D="C:\Program Files\gdotv" fails the installation altogether ./gdotv.exe /S /D='C:\Program Files\gdotv' also fails the installation altogether

For reference, https://nsis.sourceforge.io/Docs/Chapter3.html, section 3.2 suggests the /D flag should allow for white spaces (and therefore be the last flag in the command). I'm unfortunately not familiar with nsh scripts but I expect the solution here would be to modify the parsing of the /D flag such that it either supports quotes or sticking to NSIS standard just captures the rest of the command (everything after /D=, effectively) as the value of the parameter.

This can be reproduced with a minimal, default NSIS build via electron-builder, no extra configuration required.

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[ravicious]

It'd be really nice if /D worked with paths with spaces, given that the common use case one might want to use /D for is to change the install directory for the one-click installer to C:\Program Files\foo.

[mmaietta]

Since /D is supposed to be the last arg provided, would you be willing to try out this patch file with patch-package? electron-updater+6.3.0.patch

diff --git a/node_modules/electron-updater/out/NsisUpdater.js b/node_modules/electron-updater/out/NsisUpdater.js
index 565ab7d..c97b1ad 100644
--- a/node_modules/electron-updater/out/NsisUpdater.js
+++ b/node_modules/electron-updater/out/NsisUpdater.js
@@ -106,15 +106,15 @@ class NsisUpdater extends BaseUpdater_1.BaseUpdater {
         if (options.isForceRunAfter) {
             args.push("--force-run");
         }
-        if (this.installDirectory) {
-            // maybe check if folder exists
-            args.push(`/D=${this.installDirectory}`);
-        }
         const packagePath = this.downloadedUpdateHelper == null ? null : this.downloadedUpdateHelper.packageFile;
         if (packagePath != null) {
             // only = form is supported
             args.push(`--package-file=${packagePath}`);
         }
+        if (this.installDirectory) {
+            // maybe check if folder exists
+            args.push(`/D=${this.installDirectory}`);
+        }
         const callUsingElevation = () => {
             this.spawnLog(path.join(process.resourcesPath, "elevate.exe"), [options.installerPath].concat(args)).catch(e => this.dispatchError(e));
         };

It's basically just moving the /D flag to the last in the list.

[ravicious]

@mmaietta I've been meaning to try out this patch ever since you posted it. I finally found some time, but I've just noticed it's for electron-updater which our project doesn't use. Is there a patch I could try out with electron-builder itself?

[mmaietta]

I took a look at multiUser.nsh and I see the mention of https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/blob/d5d9f3f9aaac0385cc943e30a0841669133afde8/packages/app-builder-lib/templates/nsis/multiUser.nsh#L86-L90

I'm quite unfamiliar with nsis scripting and haven't been able to track down where the installer execution is actually occurring though such that it's installing to a specific directory. @beyondkmp are you able to assist here by chance?