How do you check what files are inside an NSIS setup.exe?

Question

In my NSIS script, I use this line:

 File "..\help\*.*"

My problem is that I have the help directory in my subversion repository (its constantly updated as we add new functionality). This means that the help directory contains a .svn directory.

I wish to view the contents of the setup.exe that NSIS created to verify that it does not have the .svn directory.

P.s. I experimented to see if NSIS recursively adds files when wildcards are used. It doesn't. But I want to verify this, hence the question.

Answer 1

These things are typically compressed files.
You could check with 7z/7-zip to open the EXE archive.

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As a record, after the comments below,
I'd like to point to my recent notes on the merits of 7-zip at Superuser,
Compressing with RAR vs ZIP

Answer 2

Instead of unzipping, my suggestion is to look at the NSIS compilation log. It will tell you everything about files included. When doing changes in my NSIS scripts I always check the logs to make sure that everything is going according to plan. Streaming the log from the command line to a text file, then read it from your favorite editor.

Answer 3

Rather than look at what's in your NSIS exe itself, just exclude the .svn directories so you know they'll never be in there.

Something like this will do the trick:

File /r /x .svn "..\help\*.*"

The /x .svn bit tells NSIS to exclude those directories.

Coincidentally, if you're not using the /r switch, then you're not adding files and folders recursively, so it wouldn't add the .svn subdirectories anyway.