go-msi

README

go-msi

Easy way to generate msi package for a Go project.

This tool is part of the go-github-release workflow

Find a demo program here

Install

Pick an msi package here !

chocolatey

choco install go-msi

deb/ubuntu/rpm source repositories

wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mh-cbon/latest/master/source.sh \
| GH=mh-cbon/go-msi sh -xe
# or
curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mh-cbon/latest/master/source.sh \
| GH=mh-cbon/go-msi sh -xe

deb/ubuntu/rpm

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mh-cbon/latest/master/install.sh \
| GH=mh-cbon/go-msi sh -xe
# or
wget -q -O - --no-check-certificate \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mh-cbon/latest/master/install.sh \
| GH=mh-cbon/go-msi sh -xe

go

mkdir -p $GOPATH/src/github.com/mh-cbon
cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/mh-cbon
git clone https://github.com/mh-cbon/go-msi.git
cd go-msi
glide install
go install

Requirements

• A windows machine (see here for an appveyor file, see here for unix friendly users)
• wix >= 3.10 (may work on older release, but it is untested, feel free to report)
• you must add wix bin to your PATH

Workflow

For simple cases,

• Create a wix.json file like this one
• Apply it guids with go-msi set-guid, you must do it once only for each app.
• Run go-msi make --msi your_program.msi --version 0.0.2

wix.json

wix.json file describe the desired packaging rules between your sources and the resulting msi file.

Post an issue if it is not self-explanatory.

Always double check the documentation and SO when you face a difficulty with heat, candle, light

• http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/wix

If you wonder why INSTALLDIR, [INSTALLDIR], this is part of wix rules, please check their documentation.

wix templates

For simplicity a default install flow is provided, which you can find here

You can create a new one for your own personalization, you should only take care to reproduce the go templating already defined for files, directories, environment variables, license and shortcuts.

I guess most of your changes will be about the WixUI_HK.wxs file.

License file

Take care to the license file, it must be an rtf file, it must be encoded with Windows1252 charset.

I have provided some tools to help with that matter.

Usage

NAME:
   go-msi - Easy msi pakage for Go

USAGE:
   go-msi <cmd> <options>

VERSION:
   0.0.1

COMMANDS:
     check-json           Check the JSON wix manifest
     set-guid             Sets appropriate guids in your wix manifest
     generate-templates   Generate wix templates
     to-windows           Write Windows1252 encoded file
     to-rtf               Write RTF formatted file
     gen-wix-cmd          Generate a batch file of Wix commands to run
     run-wix-cmd          Run the batch file of Wix commands
     make                 All-in-one command to make MSI files

GLOBAL OPTIONS:
   --help, -h		show help
   --version, -v	print the version

check-json

NAME:
   go-msi check-json - Check the JSON wix manifest

USAGE:
   go-msi check-json [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --path value, -p value	Path to the wix manifest file (default: "wix.json")

set-guid

NAME:
   go-msi set-guid - Sets appropriate guids in your wix manifest

USAGE:
   go-msi set-guid [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --path value, -p value	Path to the wix manifest file (default: "wix.json")

generate-templates

NAME:
   go-msi generate-templates - Generate wix templates

USAGE:
   go-msi generate-templates [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --path value, -p value     Path to the wix manifest file (default: "wix.json")
   --src value, -s value      Directory path to the wix templates files (default: "go-msi/templates")
   --out value, -o value      Directory path to the generated wix templates files (default: "builder")
   --version value            The version of your program
   --license value, -l value  Path to the license file

to-windows

NAME:
   go-msi to-windows - Write Windows1252 encoded file

USAGE:
   go-msi to-windows [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --src value, -s value  Path to an UTF-8 encoded file
   --out value, -o value  Path to the ANSI generated file

to-rtf

NAME:
   go-msi to-rtf - Write RTF formatted file

USAGE:
   go-msi to-rtf [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --src value, -s value   Path to a text file
   --out value, -o value   Path to the RTF generated file
   --reencode, -e          Also re encode UTF-8 to Windows1252 charset

gen-wix-cmd

NAME:
   go-msi gen-wix-cmd - Generate a batch file of Wix commands to run

USAGE:
   go-msi gen-wix-cmd [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --path value, -p value  Path to the wix manifest file (default: "wix.json")
   --src value, -s value   Directory path to the wix templates files (default: "go-msi/templates")
   --out value, -o value   Directory path to the generated wix cmd file (default: "builder")
   --arch value, -a value  A target architecture , amd64 or 386 (ia64 is not handled)
   --msi value, -m value   Path to write resulting msi file to

run-wix-cmd

NAME:
   go-msi run-wix-cmd - Run the batch file of Wix commands

USAGE:
   go-msi run-wix-cmd [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --out value, -o value	Directory path to the generated wix cmd file (default: "builder")

make

NAME:
   go-msi make - All-in-one command to make MSI files

USAGE:
   go-msi make [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --path value, -p value       Path to the wix manifest file (default: "wix.json")
   --src value, -s value        Directory path to the wix templates files (default: "go-msi/templates")
   --out value, -o value        Directory path to the generated wix cmd file (default: "builder")
   --arch value, -a value	      A target architecture , amd64 or 386 (ia64 is not handled)
   --msi value, -m value        Path to write resulting msi file to
   --version value              The version of your program
   --license value, -l value    Path to the license file

choco

NAME:
   go-msi choco - Generate a chocolatey package of your msi files

USAGE:
   go-msi choco [command options] [arguments...]

OPTIONS:
   --path value, -p value     Path to the wix manifest file (default: "wix.json")
   --src value, -s value      Directory path to the wix templates files (default: "go-msi/templates")
   --version value            The version of your program
   --out value, -o value      Directory path to the generated chocolatey build file (default: "builder")
   --input value, -i value    Path to the msi file to package into the chocolatey package
   --keep, -k                 Keep output directory containing build files (useful for debug)
   --changelog-cmd, -c value  A command to generate the content of the changelog.

Credits

A big big thanks to

• Helge Klein, which i do not know personally, but made this project possible by sharing a real world example at https://helgeklein.com/blog/2014/09/real-world-example-wix-msi-application-installer/
• all SO contributors on wix tag.