What possibilities exist to build an installer for a windows application on Linux (install target=windows, build environment=Linux)

Question

After playing around with NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Installation System) for a few days, I really feel the pain it's use brings me. No wonder, the authors claim it's scripting implementation is a "mixture of PHP and Assembly".

So, I hope there is something better to write installation procedures to get Windows programs installed, while creating the installation package on Linux.

But I did not find anything yet. Wix looks promising, but seems not really to run on Linux, Python can create .msi files - but only when running on Windows.

Izpack is out of the game because it requires Java for the installer to run on the target system.

Our app to be installed is a python app (and I'm even thinking about scripting the whole install myself in Python).

Any other ideas?

Forgot to say: Free/OpenSource apps preferred. Not only because of cost, because of the power to control and adjust everything. We might be willing to pay professional support if it helps us getting to our goals fast, but we also want to have full control over the build system.

Answer 1

You might try looking at InstallAnywhere, but it may require Java.

Answer 2

You may be interested by BitRock: http://bit.ly/BgNES

Answer 3

Try running InnoSetup under Wine. It should work unless you have some very specific needs. InnoSetup is open source, BTW.

Answer 4

It seems that pyinstaller might do the trick. I'm also looking for something like what you need. I have not tried it yet ...