Installaware SingleFile: msi vs. exe

[anja_laenge]

Hi,

I was asked to provide a comparison between (single file) setups built as EXE vs. setups built as MSI.
Since we create our setups with InstallAware, the common differentiators such as prerequisite delivery, MSI database registration, custom dialogs, silent installation options, and the ability to prefill custom parameters via command line are already covered equally in both formats. We also do not use MSP or MST.

As far as I can tell, the only real technical difference that remains is handling via GPO (since it requires MSI). Is that correct, or am I overlooking anything?

kind regards
Anja

[JohnGaver]

That is entirely correct!

[anja_laenge]

Perfect, thank you!

[anja_laenge]

Hi,

and a follow up regarding the structure of the outputs...

an uncompressed build is basically an .exe and a .msi (and other),
a singleFile exe is a self extracting archive containing exe and msi,
a singleFile msi is an msi warapper of a self extracting exe containing exe and msi?


kind regards
Anja

[JohnGaver]

That's precisely correct.

There's even pre-defined variables that reflect the nesting and master paths where each package is located.

I paste verbatim from:

http://www.installaware.com/mh52/deskto ... iables.htm

SETUPPATH: This variable provides a convenient mechanism to detect the outermost folder containing the executable program or setup database that initiated the installation. In other words, this value is set to the value of the variable GPOPATH, or SFXPATH, or EXEDIR in that order of priority - until the first variable containing a non-empty value is found.

[anja_laenge]

an uncompressed build is basically an .exe and a .msi (and other),
a singleFile exe is a self extracting archive containing exe and msi,
a singleFile msi is an msi warapper of a self extracting exe containing exe and msi?

That's precisely correct.

Have you ever thought about naming it Matrjoschka?

Thank you

[JohnGaver]

You can say that again