Repository build description

Installer repositories are compiled by using kcl build. This requires an Xml file that describes how to build a file repository. Here’s an example repository file:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<Repository>
  <Features>
    <Feature Id="7f9e0d24-1c82-49d3-86f9-47c0a7c984d5">
      <Reference Id="c9a41343-bc90-4871-84bd-27f04aac4794"/>
    </Feature>
  </Features>
  <Files>
    <Group Id="c9a41343-bc90-4871-84bd-27f04aac4794">
      <File Source="A:\full\path\file.exe" Target="bin/file.exe"/>
    </Group>
    <Packages>
      <Package Name="bin">
        <Reference Id="c9a41343-bc90-4871-84bd-27f04aac4794"/>
      </Package>
    </Packages>
  </Files>
  <UI>
    <FeatureTree>
      <Node Description="Binary files." Name="Binaries">
        <Reference Id="7f9e0d24-1c82-49d3-86f9-47c0a7c984d5"/>
      </Node>
    </FeatureTree>
  </UI>
</Repository>

Reference

The repository stores various objects which can be referenced. In general, anything which has an Id attribute can be referenced, and all references are done by adding a Reference node. Objects can be grouped by using a Group node, this makes it possible to reference many objects using a single Reference.

  • Repository is the top level node and must be always present.

  • Features contains the feature list. A feature must reference another object in the repository, and must not reference another feature.

  • Files describes all file objects and the storage layout.

    If present, Packages is used to group files into packages. A Package must have a name and it must reference an object from the Files tree. Files which are not explicitly packaged are automatically placed into a main package.

    Files can be grouped together for easy referencing using a Group node.

    A File node can reference the full source path or a relative path. If a relative path is used, the source directory must be specified during the compilation. Relative paths are automatically used for the Target path as well if there’s no Target specified.

  • UI contains UI related data. This data is only present in source packages and never deployed, but it’s used to create the installation UI.

    The FeatureTree defines the feature grouping. At least one Node must be present, and every node must reference at least one Feature. Nodes can be arbitrarily nested.