Comparison with other tools¶
NSIS¶
The Nullsoft Scriptable Install System is a popular and fully fledged installation system. It works at a much higher level than kyla and supports the creation of shortcuts, has a scripting language, and creates self-extracting installations.
The main differences are:
- kyla has native support for updating and updates only the required files - NSIS does not have built-in support for this.
- NSIS is not designed for integration - it takes care of dialogs, for example - while kyla is.
- NSIS does not support repairing or changing installations.
- NSIS supports only Windows (the generated installers only support Windows) [1].
InnoSetup¶
InnoSetup is another popular Windows installation system. Similar to NSIS, it provides a high-level installation framework, and comes with it’s own scripting engine and even an IDE.
The main differences are:
- kyla has native support for updating and updates only the required files - InnoSetup can update, but it is not aware which files have changed and which haven’t.
- InnoSetup is not designed for integration - it takes care of dialogs, for example - while kyla is.
- InnoSetup does not support repairing or changing installations.
- InnoSetup supports only Windows.
Windows Installer¶
Windows Installer is also a fully fledged runtime for installations which is bundled with Windows. It is comparable with kyla as it also uses a database, but there are again many differences:
- kyla can install directly from web, while the Windows Installer will download a package first before it starts installing [2].
- Windows Installer does not support modern compression algorithms. Only cabinet files are supported.
- Windows Installer cannot split a file when creating an installation media - very large files will result in very large packages. [3].
- Windows Installer supports only Windows.
Footnotes
[1] | From http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Features: Generated installer will still run on Windows only |
[2] | From https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa368328(v=vs.85).aspx: If the installation database is at a URL, the installer downloads the database to a cache location before starting the installation. |
[3] | From http://www.joyofsetup.com/2011/06/21/wix-and-cabinetry/: On the flip side, any individual files that are larger than the maximum size go into a single-file cabinet, so it’s possible that such cabinets will be larger than the maximum size. |