Dear Mr. Philip Chinery a-/und Herr Frank Heindörfer,
last year, I encountered, Microsoft did something strange:
They published WiX (Windows Installer XML) which is open source (Common Public License (CPL))!
After a frustrating start (because I had no idea about Windows Installer AND XML), I became familiar with WiX. So you can tell me “a friend of WiX” now.
I read that you collected for a donation to build a PDF-Creator.msi package. Now, I had the time to build some “Illustrative material” on how a pdf-Creator.msi could look like.
If there is someone interested, I can upload it and the source files to http://rillke.gotdns.org/ .
My sample does not contain registry keys, the files and shortcuts but I am familiar in adding them to the Installer. However it shows you how to schedule custom actions (e.g. for installing your printer driver).
Conclusion:
If somebody is interested, I’ll upload or even add all the stuff needed to install PDF - Creator. But this will be a lot of work. So I thought asking whether there is interest before would be “time-saving” for me.
What about the license? CPL is incompatible with GPL …
No problem. According to
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0-faq.html#GPLCompatInstaller
there is no Problem:
“I would like to bundle GPLed software with some sort of installation software. Does that installer need to have a GPL-compatible license?
No. The installer and the files it installs are separate works. As a result, the terms of the GPL do not apply to the installation software.”
Can I start adding the files? Don’t hasitate to drop me a line!
Yours sincerely
RE