Nullsoft Scriptable Install System

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Nullsoft Scriptable Install System

NSIS Installer
Developer Nullsoft
Latest release 2.32 / November 09, 2007
OS Windows, POSIX
Genre Software development tools
License zlib license
Website nsis.sf.net

Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) is a script-driven Windows installation system with minimal overhead backed by Nullsoft, the creators of Winamp. NSIS has risen to popularity as a widely used alternative to commercial and proprietary products like InstallShield.

NSIS is released under a combination of free software licences, primarily the zlib license, thus making NSIS free software.[1]

Contents

NSIS was created to distribute Winamp. It is based on a previous Nullsoft product, PiMP (plugin Mini Packager), and is also known as SuperPiMP. After version 2.0a0, the project was moved to SourceForge where developers outside of Nullsoft started working on it on a regular basis. NSIS 2.0 was released approximately two years later.

NSIS version 1 is in many ways similar to the classic Windows Installer, but it is more easily scriptable and supports more compression formats. NSIS version 2 has a new streamlined graphical user interface and supports LZMA compression, multiple languages, and an easy plugin system.

Version 2.01 was the first version to compile on POSIX platforms out of the box. This allows cross-compilation of Windows installers on Linux and FreeBSD without the usage of Wine. Currently, the only supported hardware platform is x86.

The NSIS compiler program makensis compiles scripts like the following example into executable installation programs. Each line in the script contains a single command.

# Example script
Name "Example1"
OutFile "example1.exe"
InstallDir "$PROGRAMFILES\Example1"
Page Directory
Page InstFiles
Section
  SetOutPath $INSTDIR
  File ..\makensis.exe
SectionEnd

NSIS 1.98
NSIS 1.98

Version 2.0 introduced a new optional streamlined graphical user interface called Modern UI (MUI). The MUI has a wizard-like interface. It supports a welcome page, finish page, language selection dialog, description area for components, and greater customization options than the old user interface.

# Modern UI example script
!include MUI.nsh
Name "Example 2"
OutFile Example2.exe
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_WELCOME
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_LICENSE "license.rtf"
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_DIRECTORY
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_COMPONENTS
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_INSTFILES
!insertmacro MUI_PAGE_FINISH
!insertmacro MUI_LANGUAGE "English"
!insertmacro MUI_LANGUAGE "German"
!insertmacro MUI_LANGUAGE "French"
Section "Extract makensis"
  SetOutPath $INSTDIR
  File ..\makensis.exe
SectionEnd

NSIS can be extended with plugins that can communicate with the installer. Plugins can be written in C, C++, and Delphi, and can be used to perform installation tasks or extend the installer interface. A plugin can be called with a single line of NSIS code.

Several plugins come with the NSIS package that permit the installer to display a splash screen, display a custom page, display an image on the background, download files from a website, perform mathematical operations, patch files and more.

Other plugins are available online, including ZipDLL, and a Python plugin.

NSIS projects can be configured by simply editing text files. However, several third parties provide editing software:

  • EclipseNSIS is a module for the Eclipse platform. It allows NSIS scripts to be edited, compiled and validated.
  • HM NIS EDIT
  • NSIS UltraModern User Interface is a new interface with a style like the most recent installers. The UltraModern interface also features new pages (Confirm, Information, Abort, Modify/Repair/Remove, Update/Remove, Setup Type, Additional Tasks, Serial Number...).

A wide-spread malware company named itself NSIS Media. NSIS Media and NSIS are not related by anything but name. A few users incorrectly allege that every installer built with NSIS contains this malware.[citation needed] Choosing a reliable download source, as with everything downloaded from the Internet, should be done to avoid this malware.

  1. ^ NSIS licence page.

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