BuildingInstallers.txt

#
# Building the Installers for XDM
#
# Author: Aaron Gibson (asgibso@sandia.gov)
#

Note that the Linux/Mac OS X installers are straightforward; the default installer
for these OS's is just a zip file with the usual Unix directory structure:
/bin/xdm_bdl
and some other files for testing.

For Windows, the situation is a bit more complicated. Windows also supports the zip
installer. However, most users will find it hard to use because xdm_bdl won't be 
available directly on the path and they often won't know to open their own shell.

To get around this, we have two custom installers: NSIS (Nullsoft installer stuff)
and Wix (newer Windows installer). By default, these installer types are disabled, 
but they can be enabled by setting the CMake flag:
$ cmake -DENABLE_WIX_INSTALLER=ON ...
and/or
$ cmake -DENABLE_NSIS_INSTALLER=ON

Note that these installer types must actually be installed first. The Wix installer
can be downloaded here:
http://wixtoolset.org/releases/

(I don't provide a link to the NSIS installer, because it isn't a signed package,
and may be susceptible to malware if you aren't careful; Wix is newer anyway, so I'd
recomment this approach in general.)

Building the Installer
---------------------------------------------------
Building the installer should be as easy as building the "package" target from the
CMake build directory.
However, there are some caveats for certain versions. The Wix Installer REQUIRES
a valid version number to run, and will not allow the X.X.X version numbering used
for development builds of XDM. This means that you should set the version correctly
in order to build this installer successfully.

Remember that the version can be set by setting the appropriate CMake properties
with a command like the following:
$ cmake -DXDM_MAJOR_VERSION=<number> -DXDM_MINOR_VERSION=<number> -DXDM_PATCH_VERSION=<number>

If all goes well, and you are able to install the package, it will generate a .msi file
in the CMake build directory.