This change does affect the layout of the output build directory, and
will need corresponding website changes to avoid breaking links.
'x86' was a misnomer anyway, because it was really Windows-specific
rather than just x86-specific. Calling it 'w32' will make it look less
strange to add 'w64' alongside it.
Mostly this is a reaction to the reports of Inno Setup having a DLL
hijacking vulnerability. But also, the new installer has several other
nice features that our Inno Setup one didn't provide: it can put the
PuTTY install directory on PATH automatically, and it supports
completely automatic and silent install/uninstall via 'msiexec /q'
which should make it easier for sysadmins to roll out installation in
large organisations. Also, it just seems like good sense to be using
Windows's own native packaging system (or closest equivalent) rather
than going it alone.
(And on the developer side, I have to say I like the fact that WiX
lets me pass in the version number as a set of command-line #define-
equivalents, whereas for Inno Setup I had to have Buildscr apply Perl
rewriting to the source file.)
For the moment, I'm still building the old Inno Setup installer
alongside this one, but I expect to retire it once the WiX one has
survived in the wild for a while and proven itself more or less
stable.
I've found both MSI and WiX to be confusing and difficult
technologies, so this installer has some noticeable pieces missing
(e.g. retrospective reconfiguration of the installed feature set, and
per-user vs systemwide installation) simply because I couldn't get
them to work. I've commented the new installer source code heavily, in
the hope that a passing WiX expert can give me a hand!
sign.sh's command-line syntax has changed, so I've updated the sample
command line in CHECKLST as well. Also the file extensions of the
signatures have changed, so I've updated the pre-release verification
command line in CHECKLST too.
Saves me having to remember all the fiddly gpg arguments every time.
Should be usable for both releases (with manual passphrase input)
and snapshots (run automatically).
[originally from svn r7227]
