view contrib/packaging/wix/readme.rst @ 43617:697c2e32c490

packaging: ship all help .txt files on WiX

These are technically not needed. But it is easier to ship
all files than to cherry-pick. A `make install` will copy
these files, so the new behavior is consistent with that.
This also makes WiX consistent with Inno, which is my main
reason for doing this.

If we don't want to ship the files (which is a valid argument),
I think we can do that in a follow up.

Differential Revision: https://phab.mercurial-scm.org/D7166

WiX Installer
=============

The files in this directory are used to produce an MSI installer using
the WiX Toolset (http://wixtoolset.org/).

The MSI installers require elevated (admin) privileges due to the
installation of MSVC CRT libraries into the Windows system store. See
the Inno Setup installers in the ``inno`` sibling directory for installers
that do not have this requirement.

Requirements
============

Building the WiX installers requires a Windows machine. The following
dependencies must be installed:

* Python 2.7 (download from https://www.python.org/downloads/)
* Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler for Python 2.7
  (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=44266)
* Python 3.5+ (to run the ``packaging.py`` script)

Building
========

The ``packaging.py`` script automates the process of producing an MSI
installer. It manages fetching and configuring non-system dependencies
(such as py2exe, gettext, and various Python packages).

The script requires an activated ``Visual C++ 2008`` command prompt.
A shortcut to such a prompt was installed with ``Microsoft Visual
C++ Compiler for Python 2.7``. From your Start Menu, look for
``Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler Package for Python 2.7`` then
launch either ``Visual C++ 2008 32-bit Command Prompt`` or
``Visual C++ 2008 64-bit Command Prompt``.

From the prompt, change to the Mercurial source directory. e.g.
``cd c:\src\hg``.

Next, invoke ``packaging.py`` to produce an MSI installer. You will need
to supply the path to the Python interpreter to use.::

   $ python3 contrib\packaging\packaging.py \
      wix --python c:\python27\python.exe

.. note::

   The script validates that the Visual C++ environment is active and
   that the architecture of the specified Python interpreter matches the
   Visual C++ environment. An error is raised otherwise.

If everything runs as intended, dependencies will be fetched and
configured into the ``build`` sub-directory, Mercurial will be built,
and an installer placed in the ``dist`` sub-directory. The final line
of output should print the name of the generated installer.

Additional options may be configured. Run ``packaging.py wix --help`` to
see a list of program flags.

Relationship to TortoiseHG
==========================

TortoiseHG uses the WiX files in this directory.

The code for building TortoiseHG installers lives at
https://bitbucket.org/tortoisehg/thg-winbuild and is maintained by
Steve Borho ([e-mail]).

When changing behavior of the WiX installer, be sure to notify
the TortoiseHG Project of the changes so they have ample time
provide feedback and react to those changes.