3 ms·
The issue for a lot of devs is if you want to use any of the new stuff you can't ship a single file portable executable. You have to do a packaged installer. So
by leeter 4y ago
The issue for a lot of devs is if you want to use any of the new stuff you can't ship a single file portable executable. You have to do a packaged installer. So MFC warts and all can still be faster and lighter than other options unfortunately. I was hoping WinUI3 would have a way to do single file delivery but it doesn't as far as I can tell.
- Kwpolska 4y agoFor GUI things, I prefer a nice installer that will place the files in a sensible location (Program Files) and that will give me a shortcut in the Start Menu, I don't need a single file - and I suppose most users are likely to misplace the single executable or keep it in the Downloads folder forever. Also, what counts as a single file? You can ship a (modern) C# app as a single-file executable. It will be hundreds of megabytes, but to the user, it's just a single file.
- nyanpasu64 4y agoA nice installer is ideal, but more work to setup I think (I've never figured out how to write an installer so far). And I want the ability to download many versions and put them side by side for eg. running old versions, or bisecting bugs.
- DougN7 4y agoInnoSetup for the win!
- nyanpasu64 4y agoOh I've had so many nightmares trying to extract the underlying files from Inno Setup installers. 7-Zip doesn't work, innoextract and such is fiddly to find and IIRC doesn't work 100% of the time (forgot).
- leeter 4y agoIn my case the app in question is about ~6MB and an occasionally used utility, I could make a setup version that dynamically loads things... but why? Most users would prefer to just use it, delete it, and if they need it again grab it again.