[sword-devel] BibleCS Installer

[Lynn Allan]

Here is a prototype for an nsis installer that takes into account a
"family" of windows applications being published by The CrossWire
Bible Society. It builds on the biblecs_proto_installer mentioned in
an earlier post.
http://lcdbible.sourceforge.net/misc/lcdbible_proto_installer.zip

-- Comments and caveats ---

* could apply to the wxWidgets-based BibleStudy for windows, LcdBible,
and perhaps others (like verse-of-the-day plug-ins, etc)

* "StarterKit" includes a resource (ISV NT) so that the end-user only
has one download, and it isn't necessary to get "up to speed" with the
InstallManager to get started. A real "StarterKit" would probably
include a full OT+NT like KJV, WEB, or another choice.

* my thinking is that BibleStudy and LcdBible should proceed on the
assumption that BibleCS (The SWORD Project ... sword.exe) has already
been installed, and the end-user is curious to try out an alternative.
In that case, those applications should either install in the same
directory as BibleCS sword.exe, or find out what the SWORD_PATH is (if
defined) and proceed accordingly (TBD). Otherwise, I would think that
there will quite likely be redundant resources. Maybe that is ok, but
I don't think so.

* handling of SWORD_PATH is stubbed for now ... if it is defined and
BibleCS is installed in a different path, then it could get
complicated for the installer. It is possible to do a "brute force"
search for subdirectories mods.d, modules (question ... is mods.conf
for Linux or it is obsolete?)

* the version of LcdBible in this proto is not ready for release ...
included mostly as a "placeholder" for this installer (but feedback
appreciated)

* the InstallManager is also a "placeholder proxy" that merely "sniffs
around" and finds modules in the $INSTDIR and in SWORD_PATH (if
defined)

* only the ISV is included because it is NT only, which makes the
"StarterKit" download smaller and make script devopment go faster

* the uninstaller is incomplete ... this is a function where a lot of
things can go wrong in a "family of applications" (such as one app
deleting resources so that another app is rendered less useful or
unusable)

* my impression is that older versions of BibleCS (sword.exe) used
InstallShield, and handling of where is was installed, what registry
entries were used, how it was uninstalled, directory structure, etc.
have evolved. This could complicate a "re-install update" of an
existing BibleCS installation

* the installer has quite a few "whistles and bells" ... not quite
"everything but the kitchen sink", but close. Some of that reflects my
progress on the nsis modern u.i. learning curve.

* ScrapeOffLcdBible.exe (with nsi) also included that basically "blows
away" everything that might be related to "CrossWire\LcdBible" to get
a baseline from which to start. Use with caution.

Feedback appreciated