NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) is a professional open
source system to create Windows installers. It is designed to be as
small and flexible as possible and is therefore very suitable for
internet distribution.
NSIS is script-based and allows you to create the logic to handle
even the most complex installation tasks. Many plug-ins and scripts are
already available: you can create web installers, communicate with
Windows and other software components, install or update shared
components and more.
Features of NSIS Script:
- Generates self-contained executable installers
- Support for ZLib, BZip2 and LZMA data compression (files can be compressed individually or together)
- Uninstall support (installer can generate an uninstaller)
- Customizable user interface (dialogs, fonts, backgrounds, icons, text, checkmarks, images etc.)
- Classic and Modern wizard interface
- Fully multilingual, support for multiple languages (including
RTL languages) in one installer. More than 40 translations are already
available, but you can also create your own.
- Page system: You can add standard wizard pages or custom pages
- User selection of installation components, tree for component selection
- Multiple install configurations (usually Minimal, Typical, Full), and custom configuration
- Installer self-verification using a CRC32 checksum
- Small overhead over compressed data size (34 KB with default options)
- Ability to display a license agreement in text or RTF format
- Ability to detect destination directory from the registry
- Easy to use plug-in system (lots of plug-ins for creation of
custom dialogs, internet connections, HTTP downloading, file patching,
Win32 API calls, etc. are included)
- Installers can be as large as 2GB
- Optional silent mode for automated installations
- A preprocessor with support for defined symbols, macros, conditional compilation, standard predefines
- A lovely coding experience with elements of PHP and assembly (includes user variables, a stack, real flow control, etc.)