NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) 3.10

NSIS, also known as Nullsoft Scriptable Install System, is a highly efficient open source program utilized for the creation of Windows installers. Its compact and versatile design makes it an ideal choice for distribution over the internet.

As a user’s initial interaction with your product, a dependable and consistent installer is a crucial element of successful software. NSIS enables you to produce such installers that can effectively complete all necessary steps for setting up your software.

NSIS is a script-based tool that enables you to easily create the necessary logic to handle even the most intricate installation tasks. A wide variety of plug-ins and scripts are readily available for use, allowing you to create web installers, interact with Windows and other software components, as well as install or update shared components.

Characteristics:

• Generates self-contained executable installers
• Support for ZLib, BZip2 and LZMA data compression (files can be compressed individually or together)
• Uninstall support (installer can generate an uninstaller)
• Customizable user interface (dialogs, fonts, backgrounds, icons, text, checkmarks, images etc.)
• Classic and Modern wizard interface
• This installer supports multiple languages, including RTL languages, making it fully multilingual. Currently, there are over 40 available translations, and users also have the option to create their own translations.
• Page system: You can add standard wizard pages or custom pages
• User selection of installation components, tree for component selection
• Multiple install configurations (usually Minimal, Typical, Full), and custom configuration
• Installer self-verification using a CRC32 checksum
• Small overhead over compressed data size (34 KB with default options)
• Ability to display a license agreement in text or RTF format
• Ability to detect destination directory from the registry
• Easy to use plug-in system (lots of plug-ins for creation of custom dialogs, internet connections, HTTP downloading, file patching, Win32 API calls, etc. are included)
• Installers can be as large as 2GB
• Optional silent mode for automated installations
• A preprocessor with support for defined symbols, macros, conditional compilation, standard predefines
• A lovely coding experience with elements of PHP and assembly (includes user variables, a stack, real flow control, etc.)

Developers have their own VMs to write code that can support:

• File extraction (with configurable overwrite parameters)
• File/directory copying, renaming, deletion, searching
• Plug-in DLL calling
• DLL/ActiveX control registration/unregistration
• Executable execution (shell execute and wait options)
• Shortcut creation
• Registry key reading/setting/enumerating/deleting
• INI file reading/writing
• Generic text file reading/writing
• Powerful string and integer manipulation
• Window finding based on class name or title
• User interface manipulation (font/text setting)
• Window message sending
• User interaction with message boxes or custom pages
• Branching, comparisons, and other operations are included.
• Error checking
• Reboot support, including delete or rename on reboot
• Installer behavior commands (such as show/hide/wait/etc.)
• User functions in script
• Callback functions for user actions

The changelog for NSIS 3.10 is as follows:

• Fixed LogicLib SafePPO bug (bug #1291)
• NSISdl now supports relative URLs in location redirects (PR #24)
• Added InstType /UNINSTNOCUSTOM and /UNINSTCOMPONENTSONLYONCUSTOM
• Fixed bug with SetDetailsPrint lastused and plugins introduced in 3.09 (bug #1300)
• Added NSD_CB_Find SelectStringExact support for nsDialogs
• Fix RTL text in section selection page

Download the open source NSIS 3.10 installer, which is 1.6 MB in size, from the following link: https://sourceforge.net/projects/nsis/files/NSIS%203/3.10/nsis-3.10-setup.exe/download. To learn more about NSIS, visit their home page at https://nsis.sourceforge.io/Main_Page and check out the release notes for version 3.10 at https://nsis.sourceforge.io/Docs/AppendixF.html#v3.10.