views:

89

answers:

2

I have recently been tasked with finding a suitable installShield replacement and I am leaning towards InstallBuilder over Install4J and InstallAnywhere. Has anyone come across any issues with creating installers that installBuilder has been unable to handle? For example very strict security on the client machine.

*Comment added for additional clarity

For instance a system that has all accounts disabled sans the admin account with a very unique domain policy for instance, the inability to write files to the temp directory. Also how extensible is your product, from playing around with it I notice it is purely xml so is there anyway to write some extensions to the core?

A: 

You should also take a look at InstallJammer just for comparison. It's a lot more open than most of the ones you mention and gives you the ability do practically anything from within your installer.

Damon
I did originally look into InstallJammer, however I need guaranteed support if there is an issue.
Woot4Moo
+1  A: 

Hi, this is Daniel from BitRock. Our installers do not need admin privileges in any platform (unless you explicitly require them) and can install as regular users. If you need to check permissions in the filesystem, registry, etc. from within the installer to see what is available, there is code to do that as well. I am not sure if the above answered your question. Can you provide more details about what you mean with restricted security in the client side? We take great pride in our level of support, and we encourage you to contact our support team with any questions or suggestions you may have, just to see by yourself.

Daniel Lopez
For instance a system that has all accounts disabled sans the admin account with a very unique domain policy for instance, the inability to write files to the temp directory. Also how extensible is your product, from playing around with it I notice it is purely xml so is there anyway to write some extensions to the core?
Woot4Moo
As long as the installer can write temporary files somewhere (for example home directory of user being run) it should work even if TEMP directory is not available. It is not possible to extend the installer, our philosophy is that the installer should take care of 99% of the things a installer should do (creating services, etc.) and for the rest of customer-specific functionality we encourage creating small self-contained utilities (for example to check validity of customer license) that get called from the installer. We provide multiple 'hook points' in the life of the installer to run them.
Daniel Lopez
thanks for the feedback, I currently am suffering an issue with creating groups and users on a Windows XP box. I have opened a ticket, but do you have any insight? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2319693/installbuilder-create-user-and-group-on-windows
Woot4Moo
selected this as the answer as support has been provided across several emails
Woot4Moo