The standalone Windows installer for Mercurial is built in a somewhat
jury-rigged fashion.
It has the following prerequisites, at least as I build it:
Python for Windows
http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.4.3/python-2.4.3.msi
MinGW
http://www.mingw.org/
Python for Windows Extensions
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/
mfc71.dll (just download, don't install)
http://starship.python.net/crew/mhammond/win32/
The py2exe distutils extension
http://sourceforge.net/projects/py2exe/
Inno Setup
http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php
ISTool - optional
http://www.istool.org/default.aspx/
add_path (you need only add_path.exe in the zip file)
http://www.barisione.org/apps.html#add_path
And, of course, Mercurial itself.
Once you have all this installed and built, clone a copy of the
Mercurial repository you want to package, and name the repo
C:\hg\hg-release.
In a shell, build a standalone copy of the hg.exe program:
python setup.py build -c mingw32
python setup.py py2exe -b 1
Note: the previously suggested combined command of "python setup.py build -c
mingw32 py2exe -b 1" doesn't work correctly anymore as it doesn't include the
extensions in the mercurial subdirectory.
If you want to create a file named setup.cfg with the contents:
[build]
compiler=mingw32
you can skip the first build step.
Copy mfc71.dll and add_path.exe into the dist directory that just got created.
If you use ISTool, you open the C:\hg\hg-release\contrib\win32\mercurial.iss
file and type Ctrl-F9 to compile the installer file.
Otherwise you run the Inno Setup compiler. Assuming it's on the path you run:
iscc contrib\win32\mercurial.iss
The actual installer will be in the C:\hg\hg-release\Output directory.
To automate the steps above you may want to create a batchfile based on the
following:
echo [build] > setup.cfg
echo compiler=mingw32 >> setup.cfg
python setup.py py2exe -b 1
iscc contrib\win32\mercurial.iss
and run it from the root of the hg repository (c:\hg\hg-release).