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erkyrath / lectrote

The IF interpreter in an Electron shell
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Windows installer #141

Open dfabulich opened 2 years ago

dfabulich commented 2 years ago

If a tech neophyte downloads a Lectrote zip on Windows, Windows will open it as a pseudo-folder. If you have the presence of mind to double-click on Lectrote.exe and run it, it won't work, because none of its required files will be extracted, and in no case will Lectrote show up in your start menu.

It would be great to offer an installer exe. It could be a 32-bit app (for maximum compatibility), and it could download the appropriate binary (32-bit, 64-bit, maybe someday ARM), install it, and add an icon to the start menu.

erkyrath commented 2 years ago

Suggestions on what installer technology is good for this? I've used NSIS but that was most of a decade ago.

dfabulich commented 2 years ago

The Electron website recommends packaging your app using Electron Forge.

https://www.electronforge.io/

Forge, in turn, recommends Squirrel.Windows for its output.

Electron-builder is an older alternative to Forge; they recommend NSIS. ("Squirrel.Windows target is maintained, but deprecated. Please use nsis instead.")

I expect that it'd be fine to use whatever you're most comfortable with.