[Python-Dev] MS open sources WiX

[Anthony Baxter]

Relevant to MvL's new MSI installer work:

http://blogs.msdn.com/robmen/archive/2004/04/05/107709.aspx

Windows Installer XML (WiX) toolset has released as Open Source on
SourceForge.net

The Windows Installer Xml (WiX) toolset (pronounced “wicks toolset”) 
appears to have finished propagating around the SourceForge.net CVS 
servers, so I can finally start writing this blog entry.  As promised in 
my blog here, here, here, here, and here the WiX toolset and all of its 
source code has been released so that you can build Windows Installer 
databases (MSI and MSM files) the same way most groups inside Microsoft 
do.  However, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum.  WiX 
became the first project from Microsoft to be released under an OSS 
approved license, namely the Common Public License.

Before everyone gets sidetracked by the Open Source implications, let’s 
talk about exactly what WiX is.  WiX is a toolset composed of a 
compiler, a linker, a lib tool and a decompiler.  The compiler, called 
candle, is used to compile XML source code into object files that 
contain symbols and references to symbols.  The linker, called light, is 
fed one or more object files and links the references in the object 
files to the appropriate symbols in other object files.  Light is also 
responsible for collecting all of the binaries, packaging them 
appropriately, and generating the final MSI or MSM file.  The lib tool, 
called lit, is an optional tool that can be used to combine multiple 
object files into libraries that can be consumed by light.  Finally, the 
decompiler, called dark, can take existing MSI and MSM files and 
generate XML source code that represents the package.
-- 
Anthony Baxter     <anthony at interlink.com.au>
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.