Re: Using XPInstall for non mozilla Applications

David Weisgerber wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I would also be interested in using the XPI system for my OpenSource 
> non-mozilla related project as I also need a platform independent installer.
> 
> XPI seems to be really attractive to me because I don't know any other 
> installer for both, windows and Linux which can download seperate packages 
> from the Internet.

I worked a bit with XPInstall and must say it isn't really platform 
independent, it's rather platform agnostic.
(no real support for platform specific configuration tests, to check for 
already installed libraries, no real support for variing filename styles 
on different platforms, you have to roll your own, no useful uninstall 
support)

For non mozilla related software i would use something different, for 
example InstallBase or one of the already mentioned nullsoft offerings.
http://installbase.sourceforge.net/screenshots.shtml

Downloading separate packages is really a more or less trivial task in 
any reasonable scripting language, if you have a web server to put the 
packages.

Michael