* Windows Installer
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc185688%28VS.85%29.aspx
* Application Installation and Servicing
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee663259(v=vs.85).aspx
Structured Storage: (The actual storage format for .msi)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa380369%28VS.85%29.aspx
* Command line utility:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiX
http://wix.sourceforge.net/ (old website)
http://wixtoolset.org/ (new website)
Might want to see if WiX can be re-implemented in ruby and linux...
* Inside the MSI file format.
http://robmensching.com/blog/posts/2003/11/25/inside-the-msi-file-format
* Inside the MSI file format, again.
http://robmensching.com/blog/posts/2004/2/10/inside-the-msi-file-format-again
* Windows Installer Tools & Tips:
http://installsite.org/pages/en/msi/tips.htm
* particularly the tips about
MSI Logfile Analyzer
"Less MSIérables" MSI File Extraction & Viewer Utility (Lessmsi)
MSIDIFF ( MSIDIFF can dump complete or compare two Windows Installer databases
as well as patches and transforms, it installs shell extensions (right click on
file) to simplify this but it can also be used from the command line.
http://installsite.org/redirect/makemsi.htm )
Generate Report from Administrative Install
Generate Report from MSI File: This VBscript file allows a user to type in an
MSI path, a report directory, and a report name. The VBscript file then
generates a tab-delimited BAK file which exports summary data and a list of
files, with their related component GUIDs, version and conditions) from the
MSI. This list can, for instance, be imported into Excel.
MSI Package Cleaner
Rate Compexity of MSI Packages
Silent Install of Windows Installer Runtime Engine
To install the Windows Installer runtime silently, use the following command
line:
instmsiw.exe /q /c:"msiinst.exe /i instmsi.msi /q"
(instmsiw.exe is the file name of the self extracting engine installer - you
may have to replace it with the actual file name depending on target platform)
MSI supports patches ( .msp ) which are diffs from the base .msi
Patch Viewer
* Books about Windows Installations:
http://installsite.org/pages/en/msi/books.htm#msi4admins_book
Original issue reported on code.google.com by geo...@marsel.is on 18 May 2013 at 8:15
Original issue reported on code.google.com by
geo...@marsel.ison 18 May 2013 at 8:15